'^4. 

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^i^-C—t^ 



SERMONS 



OF 



Dr WfH'^^HopsoN 



WITH 



Fugitive Pieces, Notes, Etc. 






EDITED BY 



MRS. ELLA L. HOPSON 



CINCINNATI 

STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1889 






THE LISRAEY 

or c onom mt 

WASHIMOTON 



Copyright, 1889, by 
Mbs. Ella L. Hopson. 



to 



CONTENTS. 

The Perfect Law of Liberty, 1-13 

Walking in the Light, 14-24 

Fellowship, 25-31 

The Good Confession the Fundamental Proposition, . 32-40 

Division of the Word of Truth, . . - . . 41-50 

The Experience of Solomon, 51-61 

The Final Message, .... ... 62-68 

Threefold Nature of Spiritual Influence, . . . 69-80 

Can We be Wrong ? 81-92 

The Threefold Idea, 93-100 

The Gospel, 101-110 

Baptism Unto Moses, 111-115 

FUGITIVE PIECES. 

Queries and Answers, 116-120 

The Future Recognition, ". 121-123 

The Witness of the Spirit, 124-127 

And When Ye Stand Praying, 128-134 

The Name Christian, ....... 135-138 

The Sunday-School and Parental Instruction, . . 139-143 

That I May Be Delivered, 144-146 

" Thy Will Be Done," 147-150 

NOTES OF SERMONS. 

Conversion of the Eunuch, 151 

Conversion of Saul of Tarsus, 152 

Prayer, As It Relates to Christians, .... 153 

Evidences of Christianity, . . . , , . 154 



VI. CONTENTS. 

Pardon, ... 1^ 

Conversion, 155 

Sin, 166 

The Two Covenants —An Allegory . . . , . 156 

AVhom He Foreknew, 156 

Peter or Christ, , 158-159 

The Lord's Supper, . 160-161 

Armenianism and Calvinism, 162 

Comments, 162 

The Five Points, 163 

Positive Institutions, 164 

Spiritualism, 164 

Things by Which We Are Saved, 165 

Persons by Whom Saved, 166 

Does Baptism Come in the Place of Circumcision ? . 167 

It Is Impossible. Why ? . . . ... 167 

Baptism and Prayer, 168 

The Kingdom of Heaven, 169 

Something to Do, 170 

Satan, . 171 

New Name, Everlasting Name, 172 

Conversion of the Samaritans and Simon Maguo, . . 173 

Immersion the Only Baptism, 174 170 

Man and His Proper Culture, 177-195 



INTRODUOTIOK 



While writing Dr. Hopson's Memoirs maoy requests 
were made of me to insert certain sermons in the book. 
I found I could not well find room for more matter 
than I had prepared, and concluded to edit a separ- 
ate work and embody the sermons desired in it. I 
have done so. The Doctor was well enough to read 
over and correct the few I wrote out myself. He had 
the full manuscript of some, and extensive notes of 
others. I do not think his friends who have heard him 
will fail to recognize his spirit and thoughts in the 
perusal. It was a source of intense pleasure for him to 
review them and to talk of the associations gathering 
around each. 

A number of preaching brethren, who have heard the 
Doctor, ask if I would sell them some notes of his ser- 
mons. [ am glad to know that any one wants them, or 
would be willing to use them, and shall insert a number 
in the book, following the sermons. If one thought of 
his can be dropped as a seed into a human heart, may 
it not bring forth fruit to His glory, in whose presence 
he lives to-day, and whose faithful servant he ever was? 

I sincerely hope that those who loved the Doctor so 



vu. 



VI 11. INTRODUCTION. 

well will not be disappointed in the book, but will re- 
ceive it as kindly as they did his Memoirs. 

Before I close the volume I will answer the numer- 
ous questions that have been asked me in regard to his 
last illness. His physicians pronounced his disease 
nervous exhaustion ; not paralysis. His mind was clear 
and memory excellent up to two months before he 
passed away. He never complained of pain, but only 
of weariness. His patience and resignation were beauti- 
ful, as they were remarkable. His daughter said to him 
one day : " Pa, do n't you sometimes feel that it is very 
hard upon you to be set aside while others are taking 
the place you so long occupied ?" His answer was : 
*' No, my child. If I have finished my work, and it is 
God's will to put me where I am, it is all right. I may 
be in another's way." He often spoke of his departure, 
but never of dying. It was always, " I shall not be 
here long, Ella ;" or, " I shall soon rest." Often after 
I had read the chapter for the day he would say : 
" Please read Psalm 103 " — his favorite Psalm. Not a 
cloud dimmed the brightness of his vision as he ap- 
proached his heavenly home. His only care was lest 
he should be a trouble to any one. The last year he was 
unable to walk, but spent the most of his time in his 
roller-chair until the last month, when he was confined 
to his bed. 

During the month of March he said to Mr. Cave : 
^' What month is this ?" Mr. Cave told him. He then 



INTRODUCTION. IX. 

said: "Next month is April. Many of the important 
events of my life happened in April^and I shall not live 
through the month." " You will live till your birth- 
day/' Mr. Cave said. " No," said the Doctor, "I shall 
not.'' From that time he seemed to fade away, until 
April 20th, six days before his sixty-seventh birth-day, 
he fell asleep as pt acefully and gently as an infant, clos- 
ing his eyes upon earth, to open them within the veil. 
Truly, he heeded the voice which said to him : 

• " Sustained and soothed 

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

Appended is a brief synopsis of Bro. J. W. Mc- 
Garvey's beautiful tribute to the memory of one who 
loved him well. Ella Lokd Hopson. 

DR. WINTHROP H. HOPSON. 

This distinguished servant of God fell asleep in Jesus on the 
afternoon of Friday, Ap5il20. He had been gradually sinking 
under the power of an incurable malady for several years, and 
for the last several months he had been confined to his bed. 
His vital powers gave way so gradually that the last moment 
was but a gentle falling asleep. The writer was called by 
telegram to preach the funeral discourse on the following Lord's 
day. The services were largely attended, and, although during 
the Doctor's residence in Nashville, he has been too closely 
confined to become well known to the community at large, a 
gratifying amount of sympathy and kind consideration was 



X. INTRODUCTION. 

manifested by the public. He was buried in the beautifal cem- 
etery of Nashville, called Mount Olivet. 

Thus has passed away the brother beloved, who, before our 
civil war, was the most popular of all our preachers. His power 
in the pulpit depended not on those rhetorical embellishments in- 
correctly styled eloquence ; for of these he aflfected but very few. 
Neither did it depend on argumentation ; lor in this he indulged 
but to a limited extent. It depended, first of all, on a statement 
of the truth, which was always so clear and systematic that the 
mind of the hearer received it as if by intuition. The soul of 
man, if not too grossly perverted, recognizes moral truths when 
thus stated, and argument in support of them is superfluous. 
Thus Jesus preached in the sermon on the mount. It depended, 
in the second place, on tiie magnificent person of the speaker, 
and the melodious tones of his matchless voice. No man can 
l->e an orator of the highest order without an impressive voice 
and a form tall and commanding. Few have been blessed in 
these particulars more abundantly than Dr. Hopson- 

Another element of our dear brother's power was his noble 
character. The most prominent trait in his character was gen- 
erosity, a characteristic which always wins the admiration of 
men, and adds weight to the words of its possessor. He was 
never known to do a mean, selfish or ungenerous act. He was 
by many thought to be proud, and his erect and lofty bearing 
gave him that appearance to strangers. He was proud in thp 
better sense of the word. He held himself high above every- 
thmg low or small, but he was affability itself to the very lowliest 
persons who came about him, if they so deported themselves as 
to deserve respect. He had a high estimate, but not an overesti- 
mate, of his own powers. He held himself at his worth, and he 
never pretended to think less of himself than he really did. At 
the same time, he was just to a nicety in forming his estimate of 
others, and he was never known to disparage another, however 
much he might diflfer from him. Hi« sense of honor was as del- 



INTRODUCTION. xi. 

icate as that of men who make honor their religion ; and his 
courage, both physical and moral, though often severely triech 
was never known to falter. His piety was not of that demon- 
strative kind which makes itself obtrusive, but it was quiet, 
deep and continuous. He loved God profoundly, his soul rev- 
eled in admiration for Jesus, and the Bible was to him as com- 
pletely the word of God as if he had heard it spoken from 
heaven. These are the more prominent traits of the character 
which, together with his natural powers, made him the mighty 
agent that he was for the salvation of sinners and the edification 
of saints. 

I need not say more, though the theme is inviting ; for in his 
biography, recently published by his faithful and talented wife, 
the whole story of his interesting career is effectively told. I 
trust that his death will be followed by a much wider circulation 
of this book. An agreement was made between him and Bro. 
L. B. Wilkes, many years ago, that when either died the sur- 
vivor should preach his funeral; but Bro. Wilkes was too 
far away, and I, his next most intimate friend of the years long 
gone by, was called to the solemn duty. He and I were born in 
the same county— Christian County, Ky., and he was only six 
years my senior. I followed him in the service of the church in 
Fayette, Mo., and also in that of Lexington, Ky. I was asso- 
ciated with him on the editorial staff of the Apostolic Times 
through the first five years of its history, and in many other 
ways I enjoyed opportunities for knowing him well, and for be- 
coming attached to him. It gave me, therefore, a solemn pleasure 
to speak of his worth to the audience of comparative strangers 
in Nashville, and to pen the few lines of this obituary notice. I 
shall meet him again before many years, and there are few in 
that better land who will give me a warmer welcome than he- 
few whom I shall be gladder to see. 



SERMONS OF DR W. H. HOPSON. 



THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. 

James I. 25. 

In religion, as in geometry, it is of paramount im- 
portance to have a full, accurate and satisfactory defini- 
tion of terms. I will therefore spend no time in an 
unnecessary introduction, but proceed at once to the 
discussion of the subject. 

I will first define what is meant in the passage by 
the terms Liberty, Law and Perfect, and to these defini- 
tions I invite the thoughtful consideration of my hear- 
ers, as upon the correctness of these definitions the 
validity of the argument of this discourse depends. 

1. The liberty spoken of in the passage does not refer 
to personal freedom, as opposed to involuntary slavery. 
The Bible nowhere preaches '^ deliverance to the cap- 
tives," in this sense. Indeed, in the discussion of that 
question in its religious bearing, the writers and speak- 
ers seem to have ignored, or not to have known the fact, 
that upon the morality or immorality, the right or the 
wrong, of slavery, per se, the entire Bible is as silent as 
death and as voiceless as the grave. No one in the Old 
or the New Testament is either praised or blamed for being 
a slaveholder ; no one is anywhere encouraged to possess 
slaves as a desirable property ; nor is any one in any 



2 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

place advised not to make such a purchase. It is no- 
where taught that one^s spiritual growth, happiness and 
joy are promoted or retarded by being the owner of 
slaves. It is nowhere affirmed in the Bible, as to the 
slave, that •voluntary or involuntary servitude is favor- 
able or unfavorable to the cultivation of piety and the 
acceptable worship of God. Indeed, the only allusion 
to the subject in this aspect of it, is Paul's utterance, 
" Use it, retain it ;" but whether the it refers to slavery 
or freedom, is doubtful; but if to freedom, the apostle 
expresses for it a bare preference. 

2. Liberty here does not refer to political or gov- 
ernmental freedom. The Bible is equally silent on the 
subject of the forms of human government. There are, 
in my view of things, but three forms of human gov- 
ernment possible to man : (1) A despotism, where one 
man rules according to his own judgment or caprice. 
(2) A monarchy where one man rules according to a 
constitution, written or unwritten, clearly defining and 
limiting the powers and duties of the ruler, and the 
rights and privileges of the people. (3) A republic 
(sometimes existing as an aristocracy or as a democracy), 
where the sovereign power, variously expressed — that is, 
en masse, or by delegates — resides in the people. 

Now, I affirm that the Bibh', as to a human govern- 
ment, expresses neither sympathy nor antipathy, in re- 
gard to any of these forms of government. I have often 
been most profoundly shocked at the unhallowed use 
made of the Bible by preachers and statesmen, so-called, 
in perverting it to support the extreme views, on both 
sides, of excited controversialists in the discussion of 
political liberty and human rights. In the Old World, 
in Christianized Europe, it is a heresy worthy of death 



THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. 3 

to doubt that kings rule by Divine right and appoint- 
ment ; here it is almost the unpardonable sin to question 
that " all men are politically free and equal by the Di- 
vine vvill.'^ I beg leave to express the conviction that 
upon these subjects the Bible teaches nothing at all. The 
word of God simply requires Christians to obey the laws 
under which they live, without regard to the form of 
government, this obedience being implicit and complete, 
guarded only by the simple proviso that if a human law 
conflicts with a divine law, then the Christian is ab- 
solved from his human allegiance, and must obey God 
usque ad mortem. The Bible does not teach science, nor 
commerce, nor manufactures, nor art, grand and impor- 
tant though they all may be ; its sole design is to ac- 
quaint us with God — to teach us the true worship as to 
object and manner — to show us the way of salvation — to 
educate, fit and prepare the deathless spirit for the fullest 
bliss of which it is capable in this life and that which is 
to come. In a word, it teaches religion, pure and unde- 
filed — no more, no less. 

3. The liberty spoken of is the liberty of the human 
spirit ; more accurately, the freedom of the human will. 
Metaphysicians divide the mind into the understanding, 
the sensibilities and the will. Calvinists and Arrain- 
ians agree that the understanding and the sensibilities are 
necessitated states — the controversy gathers solely about 
the proposition, " Is the will free ?'^ Again, both par- 
ties admit that it is free in its sinful activity, and the 
question is narrowed down to the simple question. Does 
a man act in his reformative religious movements by his 
own uncoerced volition, or by the omnipotent will of 
God? The passage, without discussing the freedom of 
the human will as between man and God, teaches that 



4 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

the " freedman of the Lord ^^ is spiritually emancipated 
from all previous bondage, that was oppressive and det- 
rimental to his religious happiness ; relates to an effect, 
rather than a capacity or ability. It refers to the emancipa- 
tion of the human will from the will of Satan, and the 
authoritative will of other men in religion — his deliver- 
ance from the triumph over the will of the flesh, its 
promptings and inclinations — and perhaps alludes to de- 
liverance from the yoke of bondage, the law of Moses, 
concerning which one said, ^^ Which neither we nor our 
Fathers were able to bear.'* 

Without discussing the source of the power, the 
liberty consists in the ability to resist the will of the 
flesh, the will of Satan, and the will of other men, and 
the perfect power to do the will of God. It is the free- 
dom of the human spirit from its bondage to sin — the 
subordination of its will, in its every activity, in sweet 
subjection to the will of God. '^ That which is born of 
the Spirit [of God] is the spirit [of man].'' The spirit 
of man feels, thinks, and acts ; hence, in Biblical utter- 
ance, has a mind, and heart, and will. When the mind 
fully believes the truth concerning the Christ; when the 
heart is deeply sorrowful on account of sin, and when 
the will is changed from resistance to submission to the 
will of God, which is true and proper repentance — then, 
and then only, is the human spirit born of the divine 
spirit, renewed, holy and free ; its first act of freedom 
is manifested in baptismal obedience, in doing the will 
of God, in which act is consummated the being '' born 
again " the whole man, body, soul and spirit. 

4. The decree of God and the command of God are 
alike predicated upon the antecedent will of God ; 
hence his decrees and commands can not conflict. 



THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. 5 

It would be a case of the will of God versus the will of 
God,which,would be impossible. Now, then, did he decree 
that Adam should eat the forbidden fruit ? and if so, then 
it will be cheerfully conceded that he decreed all the other 
actions of Adam and of all other men. If he did not 
decree that, then the doctrine is false, and he did not 
control spirit by a decree. 

Now, the question is, What is the will of God ? 
That will is to be found in the law — that law is a decree 
or a command. He neither decrees nor commands, 
where he does not will. Did he decree that Adam 
should eat the forbidden fruit ? We deny that he did, 
for he commanded him not to eat ; therefore he willed 
him not to eat : and of course he could not have decreed 
he should eat unless he could will him both to eat and 
not to eat, which is absurd. 

5. We will now define Law : (1) It is a mode of ex- 
istence. Birds fly, fishes swim — this is their nature, or 
mode of life ; but this is not the law spoken of in the 
passage, '^ perfect law of liberty." (2) Law is an order 
of sequence. Common salt is formed by the union of an 
acid with a base ; an acid and an alkali form a neutral 
salt ; an apple will fall to the ground ; smoke will rise 
in certain conditions of the atmosphere, and fall to the 
ground in others ; oil will always float on the water; put 
your hand in the fire, and it will be burned ; overwork 
will weary the body. Under each law certain results 
always follow certain causes. This is not spoken of here. 
(3) Moral law I would define as order established. 
There is always a fitness between the quality of moral 
action and the result obtained. Blackstone defines '^ law " 
as " a rule of action," and municipal law as a ** rule of ac- 
tion prescribed by the supreme power of the state, com- 



b SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

manding that which is right and forbidding that which 
is wrong.'' Blackstone's definition is what law ought to 
be, but not what law is. In the Constitution of the 
State of Louisiana there is a definition of law as regards 
the law-making power — "Law is Will." This embodies 
half the truth ; I would supplement it with the thought 
that law is Duty. It is will in the lawgiver, and duty 
in the subject. God gives us his will embodied in a law, 
and it is due to him that we obey it. A parent tells his 
child to get his books and go to school. This is the rule 
of the parent and the duty of the child. The master 
tells his servant to get up his team and go to the field to 
work. This is the will of the master and the duty of 
the servant. So God wills, and we must do our duty, or 
be lost. 

There is an infidel philosophy in the church that 
ought to be expurgated from the minds and hearts of the 
true lovers of Jesus. It is a disbelieving and disobedi- 
ent spirit that asks, not. How much can I do to please 
God, and to prove that I love him ? but, How little can 
I do, and still escape the damnation of hell ? hence these 
people talk about essentials and non-essentials in re- 
ligion. 

Nothing is more common than to hear people say 
that faith and repentance are essential to salvation, but 
baptism is not. Why not ? The merit, the virtue, the 
saving efficacy of the gospel is not in faith or the act of 
believing, in repentance or the change of the will, or 
in baptism. The simple truth is, God has deGreed, fore- 
ordained and predestinated that his grace and the blood 
of Christ should be made efficacious to the salvation of 
the immersed penitent believer. Indeed, the doctrine of 
non-essentialism, stripped of its verbal clothing, that is 



THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. 7 

but used to conceal its innate ugliness, is that in order 
to be saved it is not essential to obey every command of 
God. But the doctrine is horrible in this, that its lit- 
eral and full meaning is — as every command is an ex- 
pression of the divine will, and enjoins a duty on man — 
that in order to a man's salvation, it is not necessary for 
him to do his duty ; indeed, not at all necessary for him 
to do the will of God. Is not baptism a command, and 
obedience to it doing the will of God ? — then is it es- 
sential to salvation. " For not every one that saith to 
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom, but he that 
doeth the will of my Father in heaven.'' 

I would now define Perfect as that from which 
nothing can be taken, and to which nothing be added. 
Were one- thirtieth part of an inch added to a twelve 
inch rule, it would not be a perfect rule, and a perfect 
building could not be erected by its measurement. A 
good carpenter would never suffer it to be used in con- 
structing a building. 

James tells us that '^ every good and perfect gift is 
from above." Some gifts of God are good, others are 
perfect. The sun is a good gift, but it is sometimes ob- 
scured by clouds. Seed-time and harvest are good gifts, 
but they sometimes fail us. Our trees do not always 
bring forth fruit. The weather is sometimes too hot, 
then again too cold, or too wet, or too dry, for our health 
or comfort. Home, friends, property, are all good gifts ; 
but friends are taken from us by death, our homes are 
broken up, and often our property is swept away by mis- 
fortune ; life, even when truly religious, does not always 
grant success in lawful undertakings, or give us unal- 
loyed happiness. We are persecuted for righteousness' 
sake ; and sacrifices, suffering, and sorrow, as to the 



8 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

earth, is the common lot of us all ; hence neither life 
nor its possessions, though gifts from God, are perfect. 

There are, indeed, but three perfect gifts of God — 
the Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible. The Christ 
is a perfect gift of God to the world, the Spirit to the 
church, and the Bible to both. " The law of the Lord 
is perfect, converting the soul '^ — that is, the uncon- 
verted soul ; hence it is perfect, as it relates to the sinner. 

" All Scripture given by inspiration is profitable 
[able to profit] for doctrine, for reproof [to prove again], 
for instruction in righteousness ;" and now it is perfect 
as to the Christian, fitting him for every good work. 

Have we an idea, a thought, a conception, concern- 
ing God, his existence, government, or character ; con- 
cerning Jesus — his mission, majesty, or office ; concerning 
the Holy Spirit — his divinity, his operation, or in- 
fluence ; concerning the divine, angelic, or human 
nature; man, his origin, duty, and destiny; time, the 
unseen eternity — not embraced in the all-comprehensive 
word, doctrine, the doctrine of Christ, all that either a 
sectarian or saint is to be taught ? Again, what re- 
ligious duty, what commandment of God, what act of 
divine worship is omitted from the fulness of the utter- 
ance that the perfect law of liberty — the Scripture given 
by inspiration — ^* is profitable for instruction in right- 
eousness?" Then, as to description — keeping out her- 
esy and false doctrine — what authorized standard of 
orthodoxy and exponent of the faith is at all comparable 
to the thus perfect Scripture given for the express pur- 
pose of reproving or convicting us when we depart from 
the " doctrine," of correcting or rectifying any error in 
the department of righteousness or Christian practice, as 
to the one or the many — the individual or the congrega- 



THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. 9 

tional humanity — the single Christian or the church ? 
Tn a word, '' All Scripture given by inspiration is profit- 
able [able to profit] for faith, discipline, and practice/^ 

A telescope is profitable for a survey of states invis- 
ible to the unassisted human eye ; one book is profitable 
to teach us the science of agriculture ; another, astron- 
omy ; another, political economy ; another, military tac- 
tics ; and the Scripture, the Holy Spirit says, through 
an apostle, is competent to teach us all that we are to be- 
lieve, all that we are to do, and to correct our mistakes, 
and to keep us in the right way as to doctrine, and in the 
right path as to righteousness. What more in this doc- 
trine do we need ? What more could we ask? What 
more, short of a miracle, could the great Head of the 
church do for his chosen people ? 

Suppose that one hundred persons are organized into 
a church of immersed, believing penitents, taking the 
Scriptures as all-sufficient for instruction and accom- 
plishment in faith, discipline and practice ; that they are 
honest and sincere in their attachment to Christ ; that 
they live fully under the influence of the exalted stand- 
ard, the Bible, what will they lack requisite to perfect 
their individual stature as men in Christ Jesus ? 
Nothing, most unquestionably and positively, if there be 
intelligible meaning in language. But should any still 
hesitate to accept the argument as complete and decisive, 
he must be convinced when the Holy Spirit, looking to 
the satisfactoriness of the consequence, says that the ef- 
fect will be " that the man of God 7nay be perfect and 
thoroughly furnished to all good works." 

May we not ask, then, the Protestants of our day, 
Where can you find a useful and honorable place for a 
human creed ? Is not our Christ a perfect Christ ? and, 



10 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

if SO, is he not perfect in all the constituent elements of 
the Christhood — perfect in his humanity, perfect in his 
divinity, perfect as a Prophet, as a Priest, and as a King ? 

Were one professing to be a Christian to deny, as to 
his humanity, that he was composed of flesh and blood, 
and capable of suffering ; were he to deny that ^' in him 
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily ;'' that as a 
prophet, in him was ^' grace and truth ;'' that as a priest, 
the blood offered by him was for remission of sins, would 
you not renounce fraternal relations with him, and' pro- 
nounce him guilty of blasphemy? All pious men would 
agree with you ; but is it not passing, marvelously 
strange that one can see blasphemy in questioning the 
fulness of Christ^s knowledge as a prophet, and in deny- 
ing the efficacy of his blood as a priestly victim, and yet 
not see that one is guilty of blasphemy of a similar 
nature, and of as much magnitude and enormity, in de- 
nying the completeness of his law as a King ? 

If, then, he be a perfect King, he has given us a per- 
fect law, to which nothing can be added, and from which 
nothing can be taken away. If this law is not perfect, 
then he is not a perfect King — then he is not a perfect 
prophet ; and it follows that he is not a perfect Christ : 
and if he be not a perfect Christ, then he is not the 
Christ. This inevitably follows. Strange that men can 
not perceive the dishonor to Christ, the nullification of 
Scripture truth, and the " shipwreck of faith " that un- 
derly the making and keeping, ecclesiastically, of a 
human creed ! The advocates of human creeds deny 
that the great Head of the church has furnished suffi- 
cient instruction for the guidance of the members of the 
body ; they deny that the King has given a sufficient law 
for the government of his subjects. They say that the 



THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. 11 

Scriptures given by inspiration are not profitable for 
doctrine, correction, and reproof, and for instruction in 
righteousness ; that if the man of God take the Bible, 
and the Bible alone, as the exponent of faith and the 
rule of life, ^^ it will not make him perfect — it will not 
thoroughly furnish him to all good works ;'^ that this 
law of liberty is not perfect, but imperfect and incom- 
plete ; that the full will of God in religion and man's 
duty is not therein clearly revealed, and therefore that 
certain human additions to the divinely inspired Script- 
ure are positively necessary for the organization, gov- 
ernment and perpetuity of the church. 

How apostate and semi-infidel has the church 
become, when the wholesale denial of the truth as it is 
in Jesus is the shiboleth of fraternity and the open sesame 
of admission into an orthodox church ! A denial ot the 
truth is practically a denial of Christ. *^ He that de- 
nieth me in the fulness of my kingly authority, him will 
I deny before my Father and the holy angels " — a say- 
ing of Jesus, now understood, not as applicable to the 
sinner, but applicable to the Christian, whose duty it is 
at all times to confess and honor the Son as he honors 
the Father. 

I think I may now say that the popular dogmas, 
that ^^ God decrees whatsoever comes to pass,'' that 
human creeds are necessary as authorized exponents of 
orthodox faith, and that baptism is a non-essential, are 
false, dangerous, and criminal ; that the Bible does con- 
tain the whole will of God, and the whole duty of the 
sinner and the saint in religion ; that it will convert the 
one, and *' perfect " the other. The Bible is, indeed, 
the sun of light and the fountain of refreshing waters ; 
that it is given in wisdom and goodness, and in entire 



12 SERMONS OF DR. \V. II. HOPSON. 

adaptedness to the express purpose named in Paul's let- 
ter to Timothy — to make " the man of God perfect, and 
thoroughly furnish him to every good work/' leaving 
creeds and dogmas to divide God's people and furnish 
men to an evil work. 

In conclusion, how beautifully does the Scripture, 
from its Genesis to its Apocalypsis, harmonize with these 
definitions and the arguments drawn from them — law is 
will ; law is a rule of human action. ^^ Blessed is he 
who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand- 
eth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the 
scornful ; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and 
upon that law doth he meditate day and night." Such 
a man is not a forgetful hearer, but a "doer of the 
law." In the day, amid the hum of busy life — its cares, 
responsibilities, and vexations — and at eve, when the 
hum of business has ceased and memory is busy gather- 
ing up the thoughts, words and deeds of the day, now 
past and gone ; at night, amid the solemn hush, the 
deep quiet, the all-pervading stillness around him, this 
blessed man is communing with his own heart, is med- 
itating upon the law of God, and seeking to know it, 
that he may do it, and thus become a perfect man. Such 
a man appreciates the sentiment, '^ Thy will be done." 
No wonder that the Psalmist should say of him, *^ He is 
like a tree planted by the rivers of water : his leaf shall 
not wither ; he bringeth forth his fruit in due season 
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." How perti- 
nent, too, the doctrine of Isaiah, " To the law and to 
the testimony : if they speak not according to that, it is 
because there is no light in them.^^ 

Christ himself says, " Not every one who says to me. 
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but 



THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. 13 

he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven/ 
" Thy will be done on earth as in heaven it is done/' 
was the daily prayer of the chosen twelve. ^' Angels in 
heaven do the commandments of God, hearkening to the 
voice of his [spoken] word;'' and thus the will of God 
is done in heaven. Sainted spirits here — his truly elect 
ones in Christ Jesus — who " hear his voice and follow 
him, hearkening to the voice of his written word ;" and 
thus the will of God is done on earth. There is a jubi- 
lant time in prospect for all who are kept by the power 
of faith, in order to the salvation ready to be revealed at 
the last time ; " when sin shall be banished from the 
earth, and the heavens shall be rolled together in a 
scroll ; " when there shall be a " new heavens and a 
new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness" — a happy 
time, in which union, communion and personal fellow- 
ship shall subsist between the unfallen of heaven and 
the redeemed of eath ! May that jubilant day, with all 
its glory and goodness, soon dawn on us, in which the 
seraphic and cherubic hosts of angels, speaking across 
the narrow strait that divides them, shall say to the 
redeemed, " The will of God is done in heaven,'' and 
sainted spirits from this side, in joyous shout, send back 
the glad response, '^ The Avill of God is done on earth ;" 
and then, in one grand acclaim and hallelujah, saints 
and angels joining hands across the stream, make the 
new heavens ring with the gladsome news, *' In earth 
and in heaven the will of God is done." 



WALKING IN THE LIGHT. 

" This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and 
declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at 
all. If we say tliat we have fellowship with him, and walk in 
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth : but, if we walk in the 
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, 
and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." (I. 
John i. 5-7.) 

We find in the above text three important conse- 
quences dependent upon our walking in the light: 1. 
Fellowship with God. 2. FeUowship with one another. 
3. The cleansino^ from sin bv the blood of Jesus Christ. 
In other words, our salvation from sin and hell depends 
upon our finding the light, and walking in it. 

Is there any fellowship and fraternity between the 
religious bodies to-day? Do Catholics fellowship Prot- 
estants? Do Baptists fellowship Pedobaptists? Do 
Episcopalians fellowship Methodists? And do any of 
the denominations of the day fellowship the church to 
which I and my thousands of brethren belong? Some- 
body is walking in darkness. The solemn question comes 
home to every professor of religion, "Lord, is it I?" — 
am I the one who is walking in a dark and dangerous 
path, which will lead my soul to destruction? Where 
is the light, that I may walk in it? 

1. We have three churches, all claiming to have the 
true light ; each one claiming to be the holy Apostolic 
Catholic Church; each one claiming to have the true 

14 



WALKING IN THE LIGHT. 15 

doctrines and ordinances, '^ outside of which there is or- 
dinarily no salvation." Do they have fellowship one 
with another? Do they agree in doctrine or practice? 
If they do not, some of them are walking in darkness, 
and lie, and do not the truth. 

The Greek, or Oriental Church, presents the first 
and highest claim, having priority as to age ; and it pre- 
sents very strong claims. It it the oldest church in 
Christendom, and has 85,000,000 adherents, not count- 
ing infants, as they do not baptize children under twelve 
years of age. 

Schaff, one of the greatest Biblical scholars of the 
day, says of it, ''for several centuries it was the chief 
bearer of our religion. She still occupies the sacred 
territory of primitive Christianity, and claims most of 
the Apostolic Sees, as Jerusalem, Antioch, and the 
churches founded by Paul and John in Asia Minor and 
Greece. Fifteen of the early fathers were Greek, and 
used the Greek language — Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement 
of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Athenasius, Basil, 
Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, and 
Cyril of Alexandria. Of the Latin fathers, Tertullian 
is the first mentioned — about the year 200 A. d. The 
first Christian emperors since Con*tantine the Great, 
with a mighty host of martyrs and confessors, belouirecj 
to the Greek communion. The Greek Church ruled the 
first seven Councils, which were held in Constantinople, 
or its immediate vicinity.'^ 

The Roman Church separated from the Greek, or 
Eastern Church, in the year 729, on account of P()})e 
Gregory II. excommunicating the Emperor Leo. They 
were re-united in 1274, but again severed in 1277, each 
excommunicating the other. 



16 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

The Church of England originated with Henry VIII., 
about 1534. Pope Clement VII. refused to divorce 
Catharine of Aragon, and denounced his marriage with 
Anna Boleyn. The king determined to throw oiF the 
temporal power of the Pope which Clement claimed, as 
well as the spiritual, and set up a church of his own, 
where he could marry as often as he pleased. Thus 
originated the Established Church of England and the 
Episcopal Church of America. 

We will now examine the claims of these three " holy 
Catholic Apostolic Churches" more minutely, and see if 
the light is incorporated in either: 

The Greek Church has four ordinances. It disclaims 
the supremacy of the Pope. The Roman Church has 
seven ordinances. It claims infallibility for Pope, Coun- 
cil, and Church. The Greek Church and Church of 
England deny all. The Roman Church claims spiritual 
and temporal supremacy ; the others deny. The Roman 
Church advocates meritorious works, satisfaction, inter- 
cession of saints, the use of the Latin tongue in all re- 
ligious rites and services; the other churches disclaim. 
The Latin Church does not allow her priests to marry; 
the Greek Church compels them to marry once, but does 
not allow second marriages; the English Church will 
hUow a man to marry as often as he becomes a widower. 
The Roman church contends for the real presence in the 
Lord^s Supper, or transubstantiation ; the Greek Church 
for consubslantiation; the Episcopal Church accepts the 
commonly received view. The Roman Church has seven 
sacraments; the Greek four; the English Church two. 
The Roman church demands auricular confession of its 
members, and says the priest has the power to free the 
penitent from the consequences of sin ; the Greek Church 



WALKING IN THE LIGHT. 17 

lias the confessional in a milder form, with less power 
and abuse than in the Papal Church; absolution is given 
in the form of a prayer, ^' May the Lord bless thee ;" in- 
stead of the positive form, ^^ I absolve thee ;" the English 
Church has no confessional. The Greek Church rejects 
organs and all instruments of music, and sculpture, and 
makes but little use of art in the churches, while the 
Roman Church is filled with works of art, and music is 
used extensively The Greeks use threefold immersion 
in baptism, with the entire repudiation of any other 
mode as valid ; the Episcopal will sprinkle or immerse, 
claiming both valid. The Roman Church sprinkles, 
claiming that while immersion Avas the primitive apos- 
tolic mode of baptism, the church has the right to 
make and change ordinances. Tlie head of the Greek 
Church is the Patriarch of Constantinople; the head of 
the Roman Church is the Pope of Rome ; the head of 
the English Church is the Queen of England. 

Here are three large churches, each claiming to have 
the light — unlike in everything except this claim of 
being the true church and apostolic succession. The 
Greek Church excommunicated the Latin Church in 1054, 
and the Latin Church excommunicated the English 
Church, with the Defender of the Faith, in 1534, and 
poured out all its terrible anathemas on his royal head. 
Neither church ever reinstated the other, and the power 
of the excommunication invalidated every legitimate 
claim 10 the succession in either the Latin or Episcopal 
churches. 

In order to ascertain which one of these churches 
has the true light, and to unite with it intelligently, one 
would have to examine the writings of the fifteen Greek 
Fathers and of the eight Latin Fathers, the decisions of 

(2) 



18 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

Councils, the edicts of the Popes, and the traditions of 
all three churches, and then decide which one has the 
true succession — the true traditions, the authoritative de- 
crees — and teaches the true doctrine. 

How many persons have the time, the ability, or the 
means, to investigate the claims of these large and re- 
spectable churches, all having in their communion ripe 
and grand scholars, and often great piety and consecra- 
tion. Still, in order to join either one intelligently, this 
must be done, else one is led blindly into the pale of the 
church. Where, then, is the light? Somebody must 
be in the dark. When we are through a candid and 
careful examination of the claims of these three churches, 
our investigation is just begun. Three more large and 
powerful denominations challenge our respectful atten- 
tion — the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist. The 
Westminster Confession of Faith w^as fully agreed to 
in the year 1643, and adopted by the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, 1647. It was the work of years of 
pious. God-fearing men — men who were willing to set 
the seal of their life-blood upon the cold and cheerless 
dogmas they formulated. The Philadelphia Confession 
of Faith, the Creed of the Baptist Church, and the 
Methodist discipline are all able competitors for public 
recognition. 

How many members who have united with any of 
these churches liave examined the creeds of the other 
two, and intelligently decided that in all the differences 
separating one church from the other, the one 
united with has the truth, and is walking in the 
light ? These churches differ in both doctrine and prac- 
tice ; they have no fellowship one with another, nor 
any communion ; indeed, sometimes very bitter rivalry 



WALKING IX THE LIGHT. 19 

exists between them. Some of them are walking in 
darkness. 

But suppose a man unites with the Presbyterian 
Church, which branch would he select? That large and 
respectable body is divided into, first, the Old School, 
originating in 1560; the Reformed, 1774; Cumberland, 
1802; the New School, 1840; then the Congregational- 
ists ; then the Presbyt( rian. North and South Churches. 
Some of these churches do not fraternize, and some 
bitterly antagonize. AVhich is walking in the light? 

Again, the Baptists are divided into the Seventh Day 
Baptists (English), originating in 1650; the German 
Baptists, 1708; Six Principle Baptists, 1774; Free-will 
Baptists, 1780; Free Communion, 1803 ; Old School, 
or Particular Baptists, 1832. A Confession of Faith 
was published as early as 1689, in London. Now, if a 
man wishes to unite with a Baptist Church, which one 
has the light? A man must not make a mistake here — 
he must examine each one of these claims to be the true 
church, and decide which one is right above all the 
others. Wise men, good men, godly men, belong to all. 
But suppose, after examining the Westminster Confes- 
sion, and the different branches of the Presbyterian 
Church growing out of it, and the Baptist Creed, and 
all of its many churches, a man decides that he prefers 
the Methodist Church? Well, which one of the eight 
Methodist churches has the light — the Methodist Epis- 
copal, the Methodist Protestant, the Reformed Methodist, 
Primitive Methodist, Independent Methodist, Wesleyan 
Protestant, Bible Christian Church, African Churchy 
North and South ? Which branch will one join, and 
not run the risk of not entering the right church, ad- 



20 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

mitting that any of them are right, or walking in the 
light? 

You may say, '^ Well, I will join the Episcopal 
Church of America.'' That is divided into the High, 
Low, and Broad, and there is no love lost between them, 
either. There were fierce disputes between the High 
and Low churches as far back as 1715; and to-day the 
High Church looks with nearly as much contempt upon 
the adherents of the Low Church, as it does upon the 
other " heterodox '' churches around it. 

What a herculean task a man has before him to sit 
down and examine all the claims set forth by the 
churches ! What a library would be necessary, and 
what an amount of money to support him wliile investi- 
gating them ! Yet he must do it, if he intelligently af- 
filiates with any one of them. If he does not, he is led 
blindly, and he and the leaders will share a like fate — 
both fall into the ditch. If he does not join the right 
church, he is not walking in the light; he is not in fel- 
lowship with the Father, or his Son, Jesus Christ, 
nor with his brethren ; nor will the blood of the !N"ew 
Testament cleanse him from sin, and his soul's salvation 
is imperiled if he makes a mistake in this important 
matter. 

'^ But," says the seeker after light, ^^ all these 
churches agree on the essential points of religion, and 
only divide on the non-essentials." Is this so ? Then 
their very existence is a crime against God and Christ. 
They divide the body of Christ without the shadow of 
an excuse, and put him to an open shame. ^^ They walk 
in darkness, and there is no light in them." 

" Now," says the inquirer for truth, " how is it with 
the church to which you belong ? How do you know 



WALKING IN THE LIGHT. 21 

you have the light, or are walking in the truth ? Have 
you examined the claims of all the churches mentioned, 
and come to the decision that you alone, of all people, 
have the truth V I simply answer, We do not have to 
examine all this formidable array of religious teaching. 
We seek for and find the light in a different direction, 
and walk in it. In the first place, God is light, and in 
him is no darkness at all ; but can we go to him ? We 
can not, for '^ he dwells in light inaccessible, to which 
no man cjn or dare approach." Ages ago he said no 
man could look upon his face and live, yet we must go 
to the light in order to have fellowship with Christ and 
pardon of sin. Secondly, Christ is light. He is " the 
sun of righteousness that was, by the brightness of its 
coming, to illumine the darkest and remotest corners of 
the earth ;" but can we go to him ? We can not, for 
he dwells in the same halo of glory, and in the same 
inaccessible light that surrounds his Father. In the 
third place, the apostles are light. Christ himself said, 
" Ye are the light of the world. ^' Can we go to them ? 
No. Long since they have ceased from their patience of 
hope and their labor of love. They sealed their testi- 
mony with their blood, and have gone home to receive 
their rich reward. But are we left to grope our way in 
darkness ? If the Lord gave his chosen people a pillar 
of fire to lead them through the wilderness, would he 
withhold light from his elect to-day? Nay, verily ! The 
world is full of light — the light which was in God is in 
Christ ; the light which was in Christ was afterward in 
the apostles ; the light which was in the apostles was in- 
corporated in the Bible, and it became the light of the 
world. All the knowledge, all the light, that was in 
God, that it was necessary for man to possess, was in 



22 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

Christ and in the apostles, and is now in the Bible. The 
Psalmist says, ^^ Tliy word is a lamp unto my feet, and 
a light unto my path. The entrance of thy word giveth 
light." 

We have found where the light is — let it enter into 
us, and dwell in us richly. Of what use is a lamp in 
the hand of a man ? It has a twofold office : it tells 
him where to go, as well as where not to go. A man 
takes a lamp in his hand, of a dark night, to go to a 
neighbor's house. What does the light say to him ? It 
talks all the time. It tells him there is the path — walk 
in it ; there is a stone you must avoid, or you will stum- 
ble ; there is a ditch, into which you may fall and soil 
your garments ; there is a rough spot — do n't go there ; 
there is a bridge over the rushing stream, which will 
take you safely across ; there is the gate — go in at .it : 
and there is the door. The lamp has now accomplished 
its work, and is silent. 

Now, a man wants to go to heaven. He takes the 
light — the Bible — in his hand. He opens it, and reads, 
^^ God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begot- 
ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life '' (John iii. 16). " He 
that believeth on him is not condemned : but he that 
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not 
believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God " 
(ver. 18). " He that believeth on the Son hath everlast- 
ing life : and he that believeth not the Son shall not see 
life : but the wrath Q,f God abideth on him " (ver. 36). 
Then the light shows the man that faith is essential to 
salvation. Again, the light saj'S, "The goodness of God 
leads to repentance." '^ Except ye repent, ye shall all 
likewise perish." Repentance, then, is essential to sal- 



WALKING IN THE LIGHT. 23 

vation — another ray of light ; walk in it. It says, " For 
by grace are ye saved '^ — without it we can not be saved. 
" If ye confess me before men, I will confess you before 
my Father and the angels in heaven " (Matt. x. 32). 
" If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised 
him from the dead, then shalt thou be saved ^' (Rom. x. 
9). The rays of divine light shows confession of Christ 
in the road to heaven. If the lamp says that is the way, 
walk in it, if you would have fellowship with God and 
Christ, and remission of sins. In the next place, the 
light tells us that "whosoever shall call on the name 
of the Lord, shall be saved." Prayer, then, is essential. 
Now, every evangelical or orthodox church in Christen- 
dom says that faith is essential to salvation in every re- 
sponsible being — that a man must repent of his sins, and 
confess them and Christ before men, and call upon the 
name of the Lord in prayer. Is that all ? The light 
says, " Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the 
name of the Lord Jesus, for the remissipn of sins." 
'' He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved " — 
faith and obedience connected together by the copulative 
conjunction. And again, Peter says, as Noah was saved 
in the ark, even "so doth baptism even now save us.'' 
As Noah could not have oeen saved from death by 
drowning without entering the ark, so we can not be 
saved without obedience to the ordinance of bap- 
tism. Why should any one object to this ? If God 
sav/ fit to make salvation dependent upon one condition, 
why should he not make more ? He made man ; he 
made the Bible for man, who had fallen from his high 
estate, and invested his law with sufficient power to save 
man from his lost condition. 



24 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

One can easily see how we are rid of all the labor of 
examining the claims of the so-called orthodox churches, 
as well as those of the three great bodies claiming to be 
holy catholic, apostolic churches. We take the Bibh^, 
and the Bible alone, for our rule of faith ; " when that 
speaks, we speak, and when that is silent, we are silent/' 
Leaving all human names, all human leaders, and all 
human authority in religion, we follow him who said, 
^' I am the way, the truth, and the life.'' When we do 
this, we are walking in the light, and have fellowship 
with God, with Christ, and with one another, and the 
*' blood, of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all sin." 

How very important it is that every one should as- 
certain for himself where the light is, and walk in it ! 



FELLOWSHIP. 

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine 
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" 
(Acts ii. 42). 

Without any protracted introduction, I proceed at once 
to the discussion of my subject, " Fellowship/' Evi- 
dently it does not relate to communion or the breakinji: 
of bread. It does not consist in prayers or contribution 
of money. It has a deeper significance and broader 
meaning. It means all, and more — a unity of purpose 
and aim — a compacting together of the whole body of 
Christ in an indivisible union, even as God and Christ 
are one. 

I do not know the derivation of the term, but the 
felloes of a wheel furnish me with an excellent illustra- 
tion of my idea of this indispensable ingredient in 
Christianity. All the felloes in a wheel sustains the same 
relation to and are equidistant from the center ; each one, 
in its turn, must bear the same pressure; and if one fel- 
loe becomes broken or weakened, the whole wheel is in- 
jured, if not destroyed. Whatever duty devolves upon 
one felloe, does upon another. Similar to this thought 
is my idea of fellowship in the Church of Christ. Every 
member is a fellow, not in the sense in which the word 
has become vulgarized, but in the proper sense. Each 
fellow in the church is in the same nearness to the great 
center, Christ. Every one ought to share the burdens 

25 



26 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

alike. Official position in the church does not remove 
equal responsibility. 

The specific duties of every member are laid down — 
the duties of parents, children, husbands, wives, masters, 
servants, elders, deacons, and evangelists. The oneness 
of the body of Christ is beautifully illustrated by the 
apostle in I. Cor. xii. 23-25, where the '' one body " is 
likened to the human body. ^^ But now are they many 
members, yet but one body.'' No man liveth to him- 
self, but his influence for good or evil is felt by the whole 
family of God. 

The doctrine of fellowship is symbolized under vari- 
ous figures. First, we are fellow-citizens — " Now, there- 
fore, we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- 
citizens with the saints, and of the household of God '' 
(Eph. ii. 19). We were once aliens from the common- 
wealth of Israel, but by the grace of God and the blood 
of Christ, through faith and in obedience, we have been 
translated into " the kingdom and patience of Jesus 
Christ.'' When a man renounces allegiance to one gov- 
ernment, and becomes a citizen of another, what becomes 
his duty? First, he promises to respect its authority 
and laws ; then he pledges himself to aid and support 
the government in every possible way. It throws the 
broad segis of its protection around him, and he defends 
it, and wars for its prosperity, and for the extension of 
its territory, if need be, so that it may assume the posi- 
tion of a first-class power. If we do this in a temporal 
kingdom, how much more should we endeavor to build 
up the spiritual kingdom of our Lord and Saviour ! 
When we become citizens of that kingdom, we become 
citizens of an everlasting kingdom. 

I almost envy Daniel, that prince of prophets, his^ 



FELLOWSHIP. 27 

vision of that kingdom. His dreams were clothed with 
grandeur and glory far greater than his surroundings in 
the magnificent palaces of Babylon. He stood in ma- 
jesty before the mighty image — with its head of gold and 
feet of clay — and saw the stone cut out of the mountain 
without hands/ smite the image on its feet and break it 
in pieces; and the iron and the clay, the brass, the silver, 
and the gold, was broken in pieces together, and became 
like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor ; and the 
wind carried them away, and no place was found for 
them : but the stone became a great mountain, and filled 
the whole earth. He saw the God of heaven set up a 
kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the saints 
of the Most High si • all possess it forever. Of this 
kingdom we are fellow-citizens. All authority in heaven 
and on earth is given unto our King. His law is su- 
preme. We owe him strict allegiance and unquestion- 
ing obedience. 

As citizens of an earthly kingdom, we pay tithes to 
Caesar. Shall we refuse to contribute our portion to de- 
fray the necessary expenses of Christ's kingdom ? Shall 
we, as citizens of this kingdom, refuse to bear our share 
of the burden, if it become a burden, or should we not 
rather, as the Jews did when the building of the temple 
began, press forward and urge our right, as citizens of 
this kingdom, to pour our means into the treasury of the 
Lord, until it is full, and our royal Master says it is 
enough ? 

In the next place, we are fellow-citizens. Our King, 
and the Captain of our salvation, is engaged in a ter- 
rible conflict with the Prince of Darkness. Immense 
armies are marshaled on both sides ; from every kindred, 
tongue and people they are rallying to the conflict ; 



28 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

every human being is compelled to be on one side or the 
other ; there is no neutral ground ; volunteers are being 
called for, and there are no conscripts in the army of the 
Lord. What is the duty of a soldier ? First, implicit 
and unquestioning obedience to every order. However 
hard it may seem, he must share the peril of the battle- 
field, the toil of the march, and the labor of the camp 
life ; he must always be on the watch to guard against 
surprise, and must hold no communication with the 
enemy ; he must never turn his back upon the foe, but 
always be ready to fight valiantly, and, if need be, die 
for the cause he believes to be just and true. 

The Christian ^oldier is engaged in the greatest war 
that ever enlisted the sympathy of a human heart. The 
Prince of this world has gained possession of the inher- 
itance promised to the seed of the woman. His strong- 
holds are filled with wicked and desperate foes. He 
works by stratagem ; his is not an honorable, open war- 
fare, but his ambuscades beset the Christian soldiers at 
every step, and he holds out the most tempting and 
alluring bribes to induce men to desert to his ranks. 
Truly, eternal vigilance is the price of Christian liberty ! 
One sweet consolation we have — our Captain has always 
been victorious, in every conflict in which he and the 
Prince of Darkness have met, and he will yet gain "the 
heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for a possession.'' 

In the third place, we are fellow-servants (douloi, 
slaves). We are bought with a price, even the precious 
blood of our Master, who gave his life for us. Anom- 
alous as it may seem, that as fellow-citizens we are free, 
as douloiy or slaves, we can not think or act as we please ; 
the will of the Master is imperative ; his law is inex- 



FELLOWSHIP. 29 

orable and uDchangeable. He says to that one, Go, and 
lie goeth ; to this one, Come, and he cometh ; and to 
him alone we stand or fall. We can not engage in any 
business that will in any way conflict with our duty to 
him ; and in any violation of his law, we shall lose 
spiritual power and strength. 

In the fourth place, we are fellow-helpers. We are 
in a world of trial, and often need sympathy and help. 
The burdens of life bear heavy on many a heart, and a 
timely word of comfort makes glad the sorrowing soul. 
We do not know how often we miss the opportunity to 
do good when we hold back a kind word or a friendly 
grasp of the hand, which may make a tender chord of 
the spirit vibrate that was strung to bitter tension. We 
can help the aged by a thousand little courtesies, that 
make them feel that all the springs of usefulness are 
not dried up. We can help the young by our example 
and counsel to enter the Christian life, and then en- 
courage them to faithfulness in that life. We can help 
each other by our prayers and ready sympathy, as the 
apostle commands us to '' bear each other's burdens, and 
so fulfill the law of love.'' 

In the fifth place, we are fellow-laborers. Is this 
true ? Are we working shoulder to shoulder in the vine- 
yard of the Lord ? Are we bearing the heat and bur- 
den of the day, or are we hunting cool and shady 
retreats from toil and w^ork ? In the olden days, before 
mowers and reapers were invented, the fields of grain 
used to be cut with a cradle, or scythe. It was a beauti- 
ful sight to see half a dozen stalw^art men, coatless, with 
their glittering blades laying the golden sheaves upon 
the ground. You never saw one willing to lag behind 
the rest, and leave his row unfinished. Each vied with 



30 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

the other to keep up his row. There was no sluggard 
allowed in the field. 

We are feHow- laborers together with Christ in sav- 
ing souls. We are gathering sheaves in the field — the 
world. What a glorious work and what a goodly com- 
pany. If any of the precious harvest should be Jost 
through our indifference or neglect, we shall be held ac- 
countable, and suffer loss. Oh, how great that loss! 

In the sixth place, we are fellow-travelers. We all 
know what the idea involves. In the years gone by, 
when the gold fever was raging and thousands were 
pressing their way towards the Golden Gate, all had to 
travel by land, and long caravans were daily seen wend- 
ing across the sandy desert, or climbing the mountain 
side. The way was filled with perils of every kind. 
There was the march by day, with foes on every side, 
and the lonely watch by night. Every man shared the 
danger, toil and responsibility alike, or he would have 
been thrust out of the camp, as unworthy of its protec- 
tion. If one fell ill, and became unable to travel, the 
whole camp would be pitched, and all would strive to 
nurse the invalid back to life and health. They would 
never neglect them, nor leave them by the wayside, to 
become a prey to the wild beasts, or worse, to the scalp- 
ing-knife and tomahawk of the ruthless savages. 
Everything that medical skill could do, would be done 
to save life, and make comfortable the sick. 

We are fellow-travelers to the bar of God. The way 
is beset with snares on every side. There are siren 
voices to lure us from the path of rectitude. There are 
rugged mountains to climb ; bogs and quicksands to 
avoid ; pitfalls everywhere, outside the narrow path that 
leads us to the city of our God. But we are not alone — 



FELLOWSHIP. 31 

we have brethren on every side of us, who need help and 
encouragement. Some of them may be faint and weary, 
and almost ready to give up the trip ; others are weak, 
and say, It is useless for me to try to go any further. 
You who are stronger, tell these disheartened ones to 
lean on you ; encourage them by word and deed, to per- 
severe to the end. In this way we become co-workers 
with God and Christ in saving souls. 

Now, if we are fellow-citizens, fellow-soldiers, fel- 
low-servants, fellow-helpers, fellow-laborers, fellow- 
travelers, in the true sense of the word, then, and then 
only, are we fellow-heirs with Christ of that " inher- 
itance which is incorruptible, and fadeth not away " — 
then, and then only, wnll we hear the plaudit of *' Well 
done, good and faithful servants : enter into rest." 



THE GOOD CONFESSION THE FUNDA- 
MENTAL PROPOSITION. 

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the livins: God " (Matt. xvi. 16). 

Every religion, whether Patriarchal, Jewish, or 
Christian, must have a fundamental principle — some 
great, central truth, around which every other truth and 
fact must gather, and from which must come life and 
vitality, which, if true, the religion built upon k is true ; 
which, if false, the religion is false. 

In the Patriarchal and Jewish religion, the proposi- 
tion that there was one only true and living God, was 
the basal principle. This being true, every command- 
ment and precept he gave to Adam, Abraham, Moses, 
David, and Solomon was binding upon them. We will 
illustrate further still : The fundamental proposition in 
Mohammedanism is that Mahomet is a true prophet of 
God. If this be true, the religion taught in the Koran 
is binding upon man, and there is no salvation except in 
obedience to its teaching. The fundamental principle 
in Mormonism is that Joe Smith was selected and com- 
missioned by the Spirit to teach the people what God 
wished them to believe and do, and that he was inspired. 
If this proposition be true, then the Mormon Bible is 
the rule of faith, discipline, and practice, and none can 
be saved outside the pale of the Mormon Church. 

We would define fundamentality in a clock to be the 
inertia of its weight ; in a watch, the elasticity of its 

32 



THE GOOD CONFESSION. 33 

mainspring. All the machinery in either is constructed 
and adapted to the power employed, and with 
direct reference to it. We have different theories 
of medicine, each of which has a central idea, or prin- 
ciple, upon which its truth or falsity rests. In homoe- 
opathy ^^ Similia Similibus Curantur^' is this funda- 
mental proposition. The use of high or low potencies 
— of pellets, tinctures, or powders — is merely a matter 
of practice, growing out of this principle. Allopathy 
is founded upon a principle exactly opposite. The little 
pill or big bolus has nothing to do with the principle, 
but refers only to the judgment of the doctor who prac- 
tices it. 

Now, what the fundamental proposition, that there 
i> one only true and living God, was to Judaism; that 
M ihomet was a true prophet, was to Mohammedanism ; 
that Joe Smith was sent from God to reveal his will to 
man, was to Mormonism ; that ^^ Similia Similibus Cur- 
antur '' is to homoeopathy ; that the elasticity of the main- 
spring is essential to the movement of the watch, or the 
inertia of the weight to the movement of the clock, is 
the proposition that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 
to the Christian religion. It is the central idea around 
which every fact and truth gathers, and from which they 
receive their life and vitality. If this be true, then the 
Christian religion is true, and there can be salvation in 
no other. Faith in it, and acknowledgement of it, binds 
us to obey every precept and commandment Christ ever 
gave to the world. He says of himself, ^^All authority 
in heaven and in earth is given unto me. I sway the 
scepter of universal empire. My law is supreme. Who- 
soever shall break the least of these my commandments, 

(3) 



34 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

and teach others to, shall be of no esteem in the king- 
dom of heaven.'' 

When, where, and by whom, was this confession first 
made in its fullness? 1. It was made by the apostle 
Peter. 2. In a direct answer to a question from Christ 
himself The hour had come when the Saviour wished 
to know if his disciples realized who he was, and what 
his mission to the world meant. He was about to send 
them out into the world to set up that kingdom which 
he had preached was at hand. If they did not know 
who and what he was, how could they tell to others the 
truth, the whole truth, pertaining to the power and glory 
of that kinojdom which was to outlive all kinojdoms? 
Christ himself had the deepest interest in the answer to 
his question, ^' Whom do men say that I, the Son of 
man, am?'' And they said, "Some say that you are 
John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremiah, 
or one of the prophets." These answers did not satisfy 
the Master. He said again, " But whom do ye say that 
I am ?" And Simon Peter, always the boldest to speak, 
said, '^ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
How did Christ receive that confession ? As he did, so 
should we. Did he say, " That confession does not honor 
me. It is not comprehensive enough. There is much 
more for man to believe than is contained in that simple 
sentence. I am not satisfied with it. You must add 
something to it, upon which to build my church." Not 
thus did he treat this glprious truth. " He said unto 
him, Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jona; for flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it unto you, but my Father 
which is in heaven." And then, to show his further ap- 
proval of it, he said, " I also say unto thee, that thou 
art Peter [a stone], and upon this rock [the confession] 



THE GOOD CONFESSION. 35 

T will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not 
pnvail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever 
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.'^ 
What higher endorsement could Christ have given than 
to say that his church was to be built upon tiie sublime 
yet simple confession made by the apostle Peter? 

But how the confession rises in grandeur and im- 
portance as we trace it from the humble fisherman who 
made it, to Christ, who sanctioned it, and, higher still, 
to the great God himself, who alone could and did re- 
veal it to humanity ! For centuries Jewish expecta- 
tion had been on tiptoe in regard to the long-expected 
Messiah. The nation was looking for a temporal king, 
who would be sent from God, armed with sufficient 
power and authority to drive the Roman usuper from 
the city of the great King, and restore Israel to its 
primitive power and glory. When John, the harbinger, 
came, " Jerusalem, Judea, and all the region round 
about Jordan, went out to him, and were baptized by 
him in Jordan, confessing their sins." Some may have 
thought he was the promised Shiloh, but the humble 
John soon disabused their minds. " I," said he, ^^am 
not the one you look for ; but he that cometh after is 
greater than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose : 
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire." 

While John was pouring his anathemas upon the 
heads of the Pharisees and Sadducees, a weary, way- 
worn traveler came to him and demanded baptism. 
John, who knew the spotless life of his cousin, said, 
You come confessing no sin ; my baptism is the baptism 



36 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

of repentance for the remission of sin. You had better 
baptize me. But Jesus said^ " Suffer it to be so now, 
for thus it behooveth us to fulfill all righteousness.'^ When 
the multitude that lined the banks of the Jordan saw 
the. dove descending from heaven and resting upon the 
head of Jesus, the spontaneous question burst forth : 
^' John, who is he V^ John answered and said, *^ He is 
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. 
He that sent me to baptize, said, Upon whomsoever you 
see the Spirit descend and abide, lo that is he. More I 
can not tell you.'^ Every man asked his neighbor. Who 
is he ? and each one answered, I know him not. There 
was a solemn hush, as if the pulses of life stood still. 
The heavens were opened, and God, breaking the silence 
of ages, said, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I de- 
light.'^ 

We have, then, the authority of Peter, of Christ, 
and of the great God himself, for making this confes- 
sion. If that be not authority enough, what is authority ? 
God had, in times past, spoken to men by angels and 
prophets, revealing many mighty truths to them — but 
there was one truth so transcendently grand that no 
angel or prophet could be commissioned to announce it 
to the world, and it was decorous and proper that God 
himself should introduce his only-begotten Son to the 
world, and that his people should learn from a divine 
source that the promised Messiah had made his advent, 
and that henceforth the government should be upon his 
shoulder. 

No doubt Peter stood among the wondering throng, 
and there heard the great confession which fell from the 
lips of the Father. Here is where the Father in heaven 
revealed it unto him. It was repeated at the transfigur- 



THE GOOD COKFEBSION. 37 

ation, six days after Peter made it, in answer to Christ's 
question ; and the command was added, " Hear ye him. No 
longer listen to Moses, the lawgiver, nor EJias, the prophet, 
but unto my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.^' 

Now, are we right or wrong in making this confes- 
sion ? Is it full enough in its meaning ? God thought 
so, else he would have added more to it. 

This confession embraces everything that concerns 
man^s interest, duty, or destiny. That Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God, is the only article of faith in the 
Christian religion. Around it every fact, truth, com- 
mandment and precept clusters. Baptism, prayer, the 
Lord's Supper, the Lord's day, are all matters growing 
out of the faith, and can not be made articles of faith. 
If this proposition be not true, we are yet in our sins, 
our faith is vain, and we can not hope for a resurrection 
from the dust of death to immortality and eternal life. 
This is the only proposition which every being in the 
universe must accept. The Holy Spirit says, ^^ Every 
knee shall bow^, and every tongue confess, that Jesus is 
the Christ, to the glory of God.'' 

Why is the Jew an infidel to-day? Why, as a na- 
tion, are his people scattered — a by-word and a hissing ? 
Why is the city of the great King lying in ruins, com- 
pared to its ancient splendor, its once magnificent tem- 
ple leveled with the dust ? He worships the God of his 
fathers as devoutly as did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 
and still weeps for the desolation of Zion, as did the 
captives by the waters of Babylon. Why is this so ? 
Simply because he denies the proposition that Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God. This confession is threefold 
in its character — Christ, Jesus^ Son of God. As Christ, 
he is threefold — the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. 



38 SERMONS OF BR. W. H. HOPSON. 

All that is spoken of him in the law, the psalms and the 
prophets, is true. From the promise made to the 
woman, '^ Thy seed shall bruise the serpent's head," to 
the covenant made with Abraham, tliat in ^^ thee and 
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blest,'' to 
the closing chapter of Malachi, where we read the won- 
derful prophecy, '' Behold, 1 will send you Elijah the 
prophet, before the coming of the dreadful day of the 
Lord ; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the 
children, and the children to their fathers, lest I -come 
and smite the earth with a curse/' Every fact and 
promise points to the coming Messiah. The Old Testa- 
ment is but a genealogy of the Son of God according to 
the flesh. 

1. As our Priest, he comes to offer blood for us, 
and is himself the Priest, the victim, and the altar. The 
apostle says, " The blood of goats, and calves, and bulls, 
could not take away sin, but could only sanctify to the 
purifying of the flesh ; but the blood of Christ, who^ 
through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot 
to God, will purge the conscience from dead works to 
serve the living God.'' Then he is our perfect Priest, 
and his blood makes a perfect offering. • 

2. He is our Prophet, to teach us that knowledge 
that makes us wise unto salvation. He tells us what we 
are to believe and do in order to become reinstated in 
the favor of the heavenly Fattier, and points out that 
way which leads to the life we seek. 

3. He is our King. He gives us laws to govern us, 
and tells us that in keeping the commandments we can 
alone find true happiness ; hence he is in every way 
adapted to man's fallen condition. Are we ignorant ? — 
He is our Prophet, to teach us ; are we guilty ? — He is 



THE GOOD CONFESSION. 39 

our Priest, to offer his blood for us ; are we high-headed 
and stout-hearted ? — He is our Lawgiver and King, in 
obedience to whom the whole man — body, soul and 
spirit — is subordinated. What more can man want ? 
What more does he need ? As Jesus, he saves us from 
our sins, from the grave, and from hell ; as Son, he is 
son of Adam by creation, son of Abraham by adoption, 
and Son of God by inheritance. He is human as Adam, 
as Jewish as Abraham, as divine as God — perfect hu- 
manity and perfect divinity united in this perfect Jew, 
who was the long-promised Messiah who was to sit on 
David's throne and wield his scepter. 

When you confess all these, you confess the Father; 
for " whoso hath the Son, hath the Father also.'' The 
poor Jew to-day is left without a God, as he denies the 
Son. When you confess him to be the Son of God you 
confess the resurrection to be true, ^' For he was declared 
to be the Son of God, with power, by the resurrection 
from the dead." Heaven, earth, hell, God, angels, and 
men are included in this wonderful confession. 

From the promise made to Eve to the close of Reve- 
lation, every thought, idea, or promise is connected, how- 
ever remotely, with this grand, central proposition, that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 

No wonder that Christ could say, " Upon this rock 
[the confession] will I build my church.'' It is the Rock 
of Ages. The Rock that is higher than I or than you. 
It is like the rock of Gibraltar, with its base deep down 
in the sea — for ages Old Ocean has dashed its mighty 
waves against its sides, the lightnings have played and 
thunder rumbled about its top, but still it stands as it 
has ever stood, a monument of one thing firm in a world 
where all is change. 



40 SERMONS OF BE. W. H, HOPSON, 

We ask Protestants to throw away all creeds and 
dogmas, cast them to the moles and bats as unworthy 
the light of day or the countenance of intelligent peo- 
ple, and plant themselves with us upon this immutable 
Rock — this foundation-stone Christ himself laid in Zion. 
It is broad enough, and high enough, and deep enough 
to bear upon its broad base every tribe, kindred, tongue 
and people. May God speed the day when from hill 
and valley, over the whole earth, every tongue shall con- 
fess, to the glory of God, that Jesus Christ is Lord. 



DIVISION OF THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit- 
able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect and thoroughly 
furnished unto all good works" (II. Tim. iii. 16, 17). 

The division among the people of God is not due so 
much to perversity as to ignorance. I use this word in 
no offensive sense. A man may be very learued in 
medicine and very ignorant of law ; he may be very 
learned in law and know nothing of farming ; he may 
understand merchandizing and know nothing of the 
science of mathematics. So a man may read the Bible 
daily, and drink into the spirit of it constantly, and yet 
not know how properly to divide it, and hence will 
build up false theories upon isolated passages of Scripture. 

We will divide the word of God with reference to 
Dispensation, Subject, and Character. 

1. Of the Dispensations there have been three. The 
Patriarchal, from Adam to Moses; the Jewish, from 
Sinai to Pentecost; and the Christian, from Pentecost 
till the end of time. 

Under the Patriarchal dispensation, every head of 
the family was a priest, to offer blood for his own sins 
and the sins of his household. When God instituted 
sacrifice, we know not, but I suppose soon after man for- 
feited his life by disobedience. We find Cain and Abf^l 
bringing offerings to God; but it seems that worship 
did not become general until after the birth of Seth, 

41 



42 SERMONS OP DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

when ^' men began to call upon the name of the 
Lord. " There are no specific directions found in the 
Patriarchal religion as to the manner of offering the 
blood, though no doubt it was understood. Immediately 
after Noah left the ark, we find that he builded an altar 
and offered burnt offerings upon it. We also find that 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all erected altars and offeree 1 
sacrifices. Under this dispensation Faith, Blood and 
obedience were required. 

We find that when God gave the law to Moses on 
Sinai, he said (Ex. xx. 24) : ^^An altar of earth shalt thou 
make me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings 
and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen : in all 
places where I record my name there will I come unto thee, 
and I will bless thee. '' In the institution of sacrifice, God 
elected to meet man, at which time an at-one-ment, or 
reconciliation could take place, and fallen, sinful man be 
restored to the favor of his Creator, against whom he had 
sinned. 

Under the Jewish dispensation, there being a change 
of priesthood, there was, of necessity, a change of the 
law. A patriarch could no longer build his own altar, 
kill his victim, and offer the blood for himself and 
family, but he must carry the blood to the priest to be 
offered. If he had disobeyed this law, he could not 
have been forgiven, and if he had offered the blood 
himself would have been doubly guilty. Though the 
priesthood and the law were both changed, the principles 
were the same — faith in God^ obedience, and the offering 
of blood. While this is true, and the principle holds 
good, yet that which saved a patriarch would have 
damned a Jew, and that which would have saved either 
of them would damn you and me. Suppose we were to 



DIVISIOK OF THE WORD OF TRUTH. 43 

elect a priest, erect an altar, and take the blood of an 
animal to him to offer for us, would it be acceptable to 
God? Most assuredly not. It would be a work of su- 
pererogation, and we should be condemned for it— and 
; ustly . 

After the Jewish religion had accomplished the de- 
sl-j-n for which it was instituted, it was abolished to makp 
loom for the Christian dispensation, in which the Gentile 
nations were to be included. The ponderous ritualism 
of the Jews' religion was to be exchanged for simple 
worship. The sacrifices, the priesthood itself, so far as 
human priests were to officiate, was to be done away. 
The blood of Christ was to become the procuring cause 
of pardon, instead of the blood of animals slain by 
human hands. The clash of cymbals, the timbrel, the 
harp, the stringed instruments, the sound of trumpets, 
the dance, all were to pass away with the dispensation, 
which was more or less a religion of the flesh. The 
law was nailed to the cross and a new and living way 
was consecrated for us. Christ himself became the 
mediator of a better covenant, and every follower of his 
became a king and priest unto God to offer the sacrifice 
of praise and thanksgiving. 

While the dispensations have changed, the principles 
underlying them have not. The objects around which 
the faith gathers have increased. The patriarchs and 
Jews were required to have faith in one only true and 
living God, in contradistinction to many gods w^orshiped 
by the heathen nations around them. We must believe 
in God, and that he sent his only begotten Son into the 
world to save man from the consequences of the fall. 
The commandments have changed, the blood is different, 
but God still requires faith, obedience, and the offering 



44 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

of blood. In Heb. ix. 22, we are assured that " with- 
out shedding of blood there is no remission f blood 
is shed but to be offered. 

Under the patriarchal and Jewish economies the sinner 
came to the blood when he slew his victim, and in the 
death of the animal found the offering by which he was 
to obtain remission or the passing by ot sin, looking to 
elesus as the only name given by which sin could really 
be forgiven. Under the Christian dispensation the 
blood is found only in the death of the victim, and wher- 
ever that blood is found, God has recorded his name, 
and there, and there only, can the penitent believer find 
forgiveness of sin. When we come to the death of the 
victim [Christ] we come to his blood, and can plead that 
blood which once offered sufficeth for all sinners for all 
time. 

The apostle tells us, in Rom. vi. 3, " Know ye not 
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ 
were baptized into his death ?'^ Being baptized into his 
death we come to his blood, and also where the full 
name of the Godhead is recorded, for Christ himself 
said, " Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'' 
Thus we find that though there has been a change of the 
priesthood and a change of law, God has never changed 
in his dealings with man. If there was no pardon with- 
out faith, obedience, and offering of blood under the 
first two dispensations of religion, need we expect God 
to make exoeptions under the Christian dispensation 
when so much less is required of us than of patriarchs 
and Jews? If, in the ages past, a sinner could not be 
forgiven without offering blood, can we expect to be 
pardoned to-day by faith alone ? Most assuredly not. 



DIVISION OF THE WORD OF TRUTH 45 

SUBJECT. 

In the second place, the Bible is divided with refer- 
ence to subject, We should take all that is said upon a 
given subject, or nothing. We will take justification — 
by what are we justified? The Bible says that we are 
justified by grace, justified by the life of Christ, justified 
by the death of Christ, justified by his blood, justified 
by God, justified by faith, justified by works. One of 
these p.opositions is as true as the other, nor can we be 
justified by any one of these alone. 

We are saved by grace, by hope, by the gospel, by 
the life of Christ, by the death of Christ, by faith, by 
confessi m, by calling on the name of the Lord, by re- 
pentance, by baptism. There are thousands of good peo- 
ple who will agree fully to all but the last statement. 
When we say baptism- saves, they beg leave to differ 
from the apostle, Christ, and God, who is the author of 
the Bible, and say it is unnecessary — we can be pardoned 
without obeying this ordinance. Again God saves u>s, 
the apostles save ns, we save one another, and we save 
ourselves. All are equally true. 

CHARACTER. 

Thirdly, we have the Bible divided with reference 
to character. The question, ^^ What shall I do to be 
saved?" was three times asked and three times answered 
in the Kew Testament, as there are but three chara(.-terrf 
who are interested in the answer — first, the unbeliever; 
second, the believer ; third, the penitent believer. In 
Acts xvi. 25-34, we have the conversion of an unbe- 
liever. Everything which was miraculous happened to 
the apostles. When the jailer felt the earth shaking un- 
der him, and that the prison doors were being opened, 



46 SERMOyS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

he was satisfied that the apostles must be themselves 
supernatural, or under the patronage of some being pow- 
erful enough to interfere in their behalf. He knew that 
he had treated them cruelly by Jieating them and putting 
them in the stocks. When he heard them singing 
praises to their God amid their sufferings, he must have 
felt assured that their God was greater than the deities 
he worshiped. 

When Paul saved him from perishing by his own 
hand, the jailer fell at the feet of the apostles, and cried 
out, ^' Sirs, what must I do to be saved V^ The apostles 
commenced with the jailer where they found him. He 
was an unbeliever, and they said to him, ^^ Believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." This 
was the first step toward salvation. Did the apostles 
stop there ? " And they spake unto him the word of the 
Lord [on what subject ? — the subject of salvation, of 
course], and to all that were in his house." What was 
the word of the Lord on the subject of salvation of the 
soul ? Simply this : He that believeth (that Jesus Christ 
is the Son of God), and is baptized, shall be saved from 
the guilt of sin. That this must have been the burden 
of his preaching, is evident, from the fact that the jailer 
took Paul and Silas, and washed their stripes (manifest- 
ing repentance), '^and was baptized, he and all his, 
straightway." What is an unbeliever commanded to 
do ? — believe, repent, and be baptized. 

On the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached the 
first gospel sermon to those scoffing Jews, when they 
heard the words of Peter, they were pierced to their 
hearts (they heard and believed), and cried out, "Men 
and brethren, what shall we do ?" These were believ- 
ers. Did Peter say to them, " Believe on the Lord 



DIVISION OF THE WORD OF TRUTH. 47 

Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ?" Nay, verily. 
They did believe that they had slain their Messiah, and 
that they must do something to propitiate a justly of- 
fended God. Peter said unto them, " Repent and be 
baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ 
[into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost], for the 
remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost.*' These were believers, and had only two 
things to do ; the jailer had three. 

Once more the question was asked, and answered by 
inspiration. When Saul was stricken down in his jour- 
ney to Damascus, his cry was, '^ What wilt thou have 
me do?'' The answer came, "Arise, and go into the 
city, and it will be told thee what thou must do." Not 
do if it suits you, or if you feel like it, but what thou 
must do. When Ananias came to Saul, did he say, 
'* Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved ?" No ! "Did he say, *' Repent and be baptized, 
for the remission of sins?" No ! Why not? Because 
Saul was a penitent believer already. He said to him, 
** Why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash 
away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." 

The unbelieving jailer had three things to do — to 
believe, repent, and be baptized. The Pentecostiaus had 
two — -repent, and be baptized. Saul had but one — to he 
baptized, calling on the name of Christ, or praying to 
the new object of homage — the only-begotten Son of 
God. Saul had always devoutly worshiped. These are 
the three characters who asked the question, ^^ What 
shall I do to be saved ?" in the Acts of Apostles, and 
the question was answered by divine authority. 

When a man has obeyed from the heart the form of 
doctrine delivered him, and been made free from sin, he 



48 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

must live soberly, righteously, and godly, walk humbly, 
love mercy, and do justly. When he sins, he has an ad- 
vocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ, the righteous, 
through whom and by whom he can approach tlie throne 
of grace and find mercy. Baptism to the sinner is the 
ordained instirution through wldch he must receive the 
pardon of sin, and prayer to the Christian. When 
S mon sinned after he had believed and been baptized, 
the apostles told him to '^ repent of this thy wickedness, 
and pray God that the thought [that the gift of the Holy 
Ghost could be purchased with money] of thine heart 
maybe forgiven thee.'' It would be a good thing if 
when we do wrong we would only follow Simon's ex- 
ample, pray ourselves, and ask our brethren to pray 
for us. 

Simon thought that the gifts of God could be pur- 
chased with money, but the apostles told him that he 
had no part or lot in the matter of conferring the Holy 
Ghost upon others ; that this privilege belonged to them 
alone. There is no evidence that he coveted the power 
from an unworthy motive. I often think that poor 
Simon lias been very unjustly abused. 

I have endeavored to show why the people of God 
are so divided and scattered. It is from a want of 
knowledge, how to divide the word of God properly, 
and that while the modus operandi of a principle has 
changed, and the law and priesthood have been changed, 
the principle itself has never changed. Under every 
dispensation faith has been essential, obedience to the 
commandments peculiar to it indispensable, and the offer- 
ing of blood, as the procuring cause of pardon, absolutely 
demanded. Man himself sustains the same relation to 
h's Creator he ever did. He is either an unbeliever, a 



DIVISION OF THE WOKD OF TRUTH. 49 

believer, a penitent believer, or a baptized penitent be- 
liever. 

Under the Jewish economy there was a law of sub- 
stitution. If a man was too poor to offer a bullock, a 
kid or lamb of the flock, God was kind enough to per- 
mit him to bring a turtle dove or pigeon ; some might 
not be able to do even that much, and a tenth part of an 
ephah of flour was accepted. As the blood was the life 
of the animal, so the flour was the life of the wheat. 

Another law of substitution was enacted at the dedi- 
cation of the Temple by Solomon. God had made a 
law that '' three times a year the Jews should keep a 
feast unto him," at which time every male in Israel 
should be brought before him. Solomon knew how 
often the Jews were carried away into captivity, and 
that it would often be impossible for them to comply 
with the law, and he prayed to the God of Israel that if 
the tribes could not come up to the temple where his 
name was recorded, that if they would turn their faces 
to the Holy City and pray, God would forgive their sins. 
God seemes to iiave accepted the compromise, hence we 
find Daniel and the Hebrew children praying with their 
windows open toward Jerusalem, believing and expect- 
ing that God would hear their prayer. 

God never made any arrangement for substituting 
anything for baptism, either the rite itself or the mode 
Christ and the apostles practiced ; nor did they petition 
God that if any sinner should be where there was not 
enough water to immerse him, to let him have water 
poured or sprinkled upon him. There was no arrange- 
ment made that if a man was too sick to be immersed he 
could have water applied to the person by affusion 

instead. 

(4) 



50 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

As God, nor Christ, nor the apostles ever author- 
ized a "change of form, but retaining the substance," we 
had better be careful lest we be guilty of presumption in 
doing it. May God hasten the day when all shall under- 
stand alike the great truths spoken by inspiration, and 
we find in every house a home, and in every man a 
brother. 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SOLOMON. 

Eccl. xi. 1. 

In order to fully understand the writings of Sol- 
omon, we must keep before our mental vision that he 
sometimes wrote as a wise man, and sometimes as a fool, 
as he chanced to be under the influence of either wisdom 
or folly. It is a pity that his compilers did not separate 
the two styles, and give each their proper name — the 
wisdom of Solomon, and the foolishness of Solomon. 
His Proverbs is a wonderful book, filled with wisdom. 
His Song is a love-sick effusion, written to a favorite 
wife or concubine, and probably preserved to show how 
sensual a man may become when he gives himself up to 
passion and folly. 

In Ecclesiasticus we have both wisdom and folly. It 
seems as if, in it, he reviews his life in the light of his 
God-given wisdom, and realizes what a fool he has been 
to waste and fritter away what might have been a glori- 
ous life, filled with grandeur and high endeavor. 

Solomon does not leave us in doubt as to his identity. 
He says : " I, the preacher, was king over Israel in 
Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and search out 
by wisdom concerning all things that are done under 
heaven." This wisdom was God-given. When Solomon 
became king in the place of his father David, he prayed 
that God would give him wisdom to judge the great peo- 
ple he was now to govern. God was so pleased with the 

61 



52 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

request, that he said he would not only give ^^ Solomon 
a wise and understanding heart, but both riches and 
honor, such as none had ever had before him, and none 
should have that should come after him.^' And it is 
said that his wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the chil- 
dren of the East country, and of Egypt, and his fame 
was in all the nations round about. He spoke three 
thousand proverbs, and one thousand and five songs, and 
all people came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. 

Endowed with unlimited wisdom and unlimited 
power, as far as it was possible for man to be, he deter- 
mined to lay hold upon folly, till he might see what was 
good for the sons of men, which they should do under 
the heaven all the days of their life. He determined to 
try every source of pleasure possible to man, and see if 
there was any real joy in the indulgence. No matter 
what excesses he ran into, his wisdom remained with 
him, so that he was enabled to judge between good and 
evil, real and imaginary happiness. He gave himself 
up to the fascinations of the wine-cup, and probably 
wrote the fourth verse of the thirty -first chapter of Prov- 
erbs after a drunken frolic. " It is not for kings, O 
Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine ; nor for princes 
strong drink; lest they drink, and forget the law, and 
pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.'' 

With the riches God gave him, he builded great 
works, among which was the wall of Jerusalem. He 
was twenty years building his own house and the house 
of the Lord, after which he built many cities and pal- 
aces ; he made pools of water to water the magnificent 
orchards and grounds he planted ; he had men-servants 
and maidens, and servants born in his house ; he had 
possessions great and small — horses, chariots, horsemen, 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SOLOMON. 53 

and more cattle than any who had been in Jerusalem 
before him. He had gathered gold and silver until it 
was as plentiful as stones in the streets ; and besides all 
that, the peculiar treasures of kings. Still the cravings 
of his soul were not satisfied. He says, '^ I got me men 
singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons 
of men, and that of all sorts," hoping that by the sweet 
strains evoked the unrest of his spirit might be quieted ; 
but all was in vain, and he exclaimed in bitterness, *^A11 
is vanity and vexation of spirit.'' If his heart desired 
anything, and his gold could not buy it, he had the power 
to make it his own ; and well could he exclaim, " What 
can the man do that cometh after the king ? What 
new source of pleasure can he invent that I have not en- 
joyed, to its full extent, and had with that enjoyment the 
wisdom given me to estimate its full value and its ulti- 
mate worth in the lives of men ?" 

As I have said, Solomon sometimes talked as a fool. 
(Eccl. ii. 15):" Then I said in my heart. As it happeneth 
to the fool, so it happeneth even unto me ; and why was 
I then more wise ? for there is no remembrance of the 
wise more than the fool forever; seeing that which now 
is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how 
dieth the wise man ? as the fool. Therefore I hated life ; 
because the work that is wrought under the sun is griev- 
ous unto me : for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 
Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the 
sun ; because I should leave it unto the man that shall be 
after me, and who knoweth whether he be a wise man or 
a fool f^ (24). " There is nothing better for a man 
than that he should eat and drink, and that he should 
make his soul enjoy good in his labor." Again, iii. 18: 
" I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of 



54 SEEMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

men, that God might manifest them, and that they might 
see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befall- 
eth the sons of men befalleth beasts ; even one thing befall- 
eth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, 
they have all one breath ; so that a man hath no pre- 
eminence above a beast : for all is vanity/' These things 
he said when he looked upon life in his folly. Many a 
scoffer at religion and the Bible has taken these and 
kindred passages, to prove that the wisest man that ever 
lived assures us that the very best thing a man can do is 
to eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die ; and 
that will be the end of us, as we are nothing but beasts 
any way, and all go to the same place. 

Others, not infidel, go to the Book of Ecclesiasticus 
to prove that it is right for a man or woman to dance, 
because Solomon said, " There is a time to laugh, a time 
to weep, and a time to dance, a time to love and a time 
to hate, a time for war and a time of peace, a time to 
keep silence and a time to speak, a time to kill and a 
time to heal." He simply means that if one wants to 
laugh there is a proper time to do it in — not to laugh at 
a funeral nor weep at a marriage. It does not say that 
it is right to kill, hate, fight, or dance ; but that if one 
will do it, there is a proper time for the execution of it. 

From Solomon's experience we will draw a lesson for 
to-day, selecting for our text Matt. vii. 13, 14 : " Enter 
ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate, and broad 
is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there 
be that go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and 
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there 
be that find it." 

Our life from the cradle to the grave is a journey. 
From infancy to the age of responsibility every human 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SOLOMOK. 65 

being travels the same road. Up to that period the 
parent or guardian is accountable for the proper training 
of the child, so that when the hour arrives for it to act 
for itself, it may be able to reject the evil and choose the 
good. No godfatlier or godmother can relieve the legit- 
imate teacher of his or her duty. This, and this alone, 
gives force and power to the command, ^^ Train up a 
child in the way he should go : and when he is old, he 
will not depart from it." 

We will now suppose that the youth has arrived at 
the period in life when he is capable of thinking and act- 
ing for himself. The first day's journey brings him to a 
point in his travel where a road diverges from the 
straight path in which he has hitherto been walking. 
At the junction stand three personages — Christ, Solomon 
and Satan — Christ, with his meekly folded hands, and 
tender eyes turned in gentle pleading on the fair, frank 
face of the youth, stands beside the strait and narrow 
way ; Solomon, with bowed head and shamed face, is 
near ; and Satan, bold and defiant,^ steps forth from the 
entrance of the broad way, and eagerly reaches out his 
hand to the young traveler. He says to him, " Come this 
way; I will lead you into a bright and beautiful land, 
where your life will l)e one long and sunny day. See 
how broad the road is, how smoothly it is paved ; look 
at the magnificent palaces which are built on either side 
as far as the eye can reach ; crystal fountains play in 
fragrant grottes ; soft and seductive music floats through 
marble halls, and peris glide with demigods through 
mystic dances; society, with its gay devotees, throngs its 
vestibules. If you will take that road you can enjoy all 
that is bright and beautiful in life. Look at the im- 
mense crowd entering in. See how happy they are, how 



66 SE^MO^S OF Dfi. W. S. tt01»S0K. 

elegantly and fashionably they are dressed. Here are 
lovely women, flashing in silksand jewels; royal heads, 
with glittering crowns blazing with precious stones ; 
Pharaoh, Nero, Alexander, Antony, and Caesar, with his 
gleaming cohorts ; Cleopatra, with her jewels worth a 
king's ransom. Close behind these, in a living stream, 
follow queens whose glory shone over a world. Men of 
all professions, whose names are written high up on the 
world's roll of honor — the refined, the cultivated, the 
elegant men and women of the world, are found thickly 
on the road, and the young love to go there. There is 
no self-denial on that broad way. All feel that God has 
put man here to make the most he can of life, and does 
not intend nor expect him to refrain from any joy that 
seems good to him. See those young men as they dash 
by, with their elegant equipages, with horses that cost 
fabulous suras; the ruby wine of strong life is pulsing 
through their veins, and they say, with Solomon, Eat, 
drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die ; and what 
shall be after us ? As a beast dieth, so shall we. How 
the crowd thickens ; how they tread upon each other's 
heels; and what rich draughts of pleasure they are drink- 
ing in. Fair women and brave men are there. See 
how they dance ; hear how they sing. What a glorious 
caravan ! Come, go with them, and you, too, shall be 
happy. 

" You can readily see who goes in the strait and 
narrow road — a miserable, beggarly crowd ; a poor, 
poverty-stricken set of people. Now and then a refined 
and cultivated person enters there, but rarely ; most of 
them are humble and poor, and why should they not be ? 
Their leader was a carpenter, raised in a miserable little 
town in Palestine ; he was never tolerated even in good 



tHE EXPERIENCE OF SOLOMON. 57 

Jewish society, and could never have been received into 
the polished circles you see on the other road. In fact, 
my dear young friend, there is very little society on that 
road, and no opportunity for sport. There is no theater, 
no ball-room, no circus, no billiard-room, no fashionable 
amusements whatever, harmless in themselves as they 
may be. The few young people who start on that road^ 
either turn back disgusted and take the broad and sunny 
road, or lead dull and joyless lives. I am prince of this 
world ; I own it ; it is in my possession, and all it af- 
fords is mine. You can trust me to give you all I 
promise. This Christ is a rank impostor ; had his claims 
examined, and was declared a usurper and worthy of 
death. He was unable to prove his title, or secure pos- 
session of the territory.'^ The young traveler turns his 
face to the broad road, and is about to follow Satan. He 
sees no cloven foot, nor ugly horns. The subtle in- 
fluence of the Prince of Darkness is weaving its deadly 
spell around his soul. Satan has transformed himself 
into an angel of light, and can deceive the very elect. 
How, then, shall the young neophyte resist his wily 
sophistry? 

Before the fatal step is taken Solomon steps forward 
and says: " My young friend, hear me before you choose. 
Satan is deceiving you ; he is a usurper ; he was a liar 
from the beginning ; he robbed the Son of God of his 
inheritance, and will soon have to give it up into the 
hands of the rightful heir. He has made you promises, 
as he has to millions before you, which he can never ful- 
fill. You have seen the entrance to the broad road he 
boasts so much of, but not the end. God, in his good 
providence, has permitted me to travel on every foot of 
that road and return. I have drunk at every fountain 



58 SERMONS OF DE. W. H. HOPSON. 

of pleasure or happiness springing forth upon it. I can 
tell you all about it. God gave me more wisdom than 
all they that had been in Jerusalem before me ; and I 
had come to great estate, and I determined to test and 
eojoy every pleasure) gratify every passion, and satisfy, 
every desire of my soul. I gave my heart to know 
madness and folly, and withheld not my hand from any- 
thing I desired. I had the wisdom to invent and the 
power to enjoy pleasure. The road pointed out to you 
is very broad, but still it was hardly broad enough for 
my vast retinue. Silver was as plentiful as stones in 
Jerusalem. Hiram, the king, brought me gold from 
Ophir, and precious stones, year by year ; my throne was 
of ivory, inlaid with gold ; my footstool was of pure 
gold, and my drinking vessels were of gold. My in- 
come in a year was nearly seventeen millions of gold, 
besides silver in abundance. I had fourteen hundred 
chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. Had any 
number of magnificent houses filled with everything to 
make home lovely. I made me great works ; I 
planted vineyards ; I had every kind of tree, fruit, and 
flower that grew, and ^ made me pools of water, to water 
the wood that bringeth forth trees.^ I had servants to 
wait upon me, until I could scarcely number them. 
With all this my soul was not satisfied. All was ^ vanity 
and vexation of spirit.' I raised fine cattle, until I had 
more than all that were in Jerusalem before me ; but 
this, too, was ' vanity.' I then tried music. I got men 
singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons 
of men, as musical instruments of every sort ; entrancing 
notes stole through garden, vineyard, and palace ; but 
it brought me no happiness. I withheld not my heart 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SOLOMON. 59 

from any joy, but drank the cup of pleasure to its very 
dregs, and found it all ' vanity and vexation of spirit/ 

^' As we traveled on the broad road, the crowd became 
denser; we jostled each other; songs of mirth and joy- 
ousness changed to ribaldry and oaths ; curses hurtled 
through the air ; the gay dance became a Bacchanal revel, 
and the entrancing music a funeral dirge. Many would 
have retraced their steps if they could, but it was 
too late, too late — the door of mercy had closed against 
them, and the only voice they heard gave the sad cry, 
' No hope, no hope ! * The chariots ceased to roll 
through the streets ; the reins dropped from palsied 
hands ; laces and jewels fell from fair forms ; painted 
cheeks turned pale with horror ; but still the mad throng 
pressed on ; the weak fell by the way, and were trampled 
and crushed to death. A little farther on there were 
broken hearts, ruined fortunes, appalling penury, mur- 
der, suicide, loss of faith in God and in each other, fill- 
ing the broad road with nameless dread. One by one 
they were pushed over the verge into the pit of hell. 
When I touched its very brink, God mercifully drew 
me back and placed me here, that I might tell others of 
the end of the road that has so fair a beginning, and 
starts out with so many promises and alluring prospects. 
Do not go there, for it leads to death and hell. In the 
light of my experience (and none that will ever live will 
have as large a one), ^ this is the conclusion of the 
whole matter — to fear God and keep his commandments 
is the whole happiness of man.' There stands Christ, 
your best friend ; he will tell you all about the strait 
and narrow way, and the reward that is promised the 
faithful.'^ 

With a lingering look at the broad way, the youth 



60 SERMONS OP BR. W. H. HOPSON. 

turns and listens to the pleading of Jesus. He says, 
" My son, my foot has never trod one inch of that 
road. What Solomon has told you is true. I will now 
tell you of the strait and narrow one. Lucifer has 
truly said, * The proud, the haughty, the worldly- 
minded, the man and woman devoted to pleasure 
and passion, the man who is covetous and grinds the 
face of the poor, the Esaus, who sell their birthright 
for a mess of pottage, the scoffer, the murderer, the 
liar, the drunkard, the idolator, the sorcerer, and all 
who forget God and his Son, none of these can 
enter in at the strait gate, nor walk in the narrow 
way.' But the meek can enter there, the poor in 
spirit, the pure in heart, the merciful, the peace- 
makers, they that mourn, they who hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, those who are persecuted for the 
Master's sake, those who love their neighbors as them- 
selves, those who love the brethren, those who keep the 
commandments — all these can find ample room in the 
narrow way. There the sorrowing find comfort and the 
weary rest. I have walked over all the road, and know 
every trial to be met and overcome. I have been 
tempted in all points possible to them, and my Father 
has promised to be with them, and strengthen them in 
every trial and every trouble, to make a way of escape. 
I will walk before them, and the Holy Spirit will guide 
them even unto the end of the world. It is true, some 
start out fairly on the road, but for the want of steadfast- 
ness of purpose, or the love of the world and its fascina- 
tions, and its pleasures, they turn back to its beggarly 
allurements, and swell the throng that crowds the broad 
and beaten road. Those who follow me will have dis- 
couragements to meet and difficulties to overcome ; but, 



THE EXPERIENCE OF SOLOMON. 61 

if faithful unto death, will receive a crown of everlasting 
life, and an inheritance with me in my glory. Choose 
this day which road you will walk in/' 

Wise and happy will be the youth who listens to and 
heeds the words of the wisest man that has ever lived, 
and the Christ who died to redeem him. 



THE FINAL MESSAGE. 

Rev. xxii. 7-21. 

Many of us have stood beside the bedside of a dying 
father. How distinctly his last words come to us now 
through the lapse of years. Many of his communica- 
tions, instructions, and mandates, that he had given to us 
before, have escaped our memory, but those last words 
are burned into our very soul, and as long as memory 
holds her sway they must influence our lives. 

With feelings akin to this I always approach this last 
chapter of the Bible — this closing of God's revelation to 
man. For four thousand years he had spoken to man 
by angels and prophets, but now, in the fullness of time 
he vouchsafes to talk to the beings he has created, 
through his only-begotten Son. When John wrote this 
last book of the Bible, the time was at hand when direct 
communication between God and man must cease. From 
henceforth he must rest satisfied with the teachings of 
the Holy Spirit through the apostles. 

How exceedingly fitting that the last and closing 
message should be given through the beloved disciple, 
John. Yet it seems strange that this tender-hearted, 
loving man, who breathed an atmosphere of peace, should 
have become the prophet of the terrible splendors of the 
Apocalypse. A prisoner of Nero, banished to the lonely 
isle of Patmos, cut off from human sympathy, he was 
alone with his own soul and God. Why the cruel tyrant 

62 



THE FINAL MESSAGE. 63 

should have spared his gray hairs, he knew not. One 
by one his fellow-laborers had gone from his side, to 
meet cruel deaths for the testimony of Jesus. Nor 
could he tell why he was selected to ©lose the book of 
God's revelation to man, and seal it up till time should 
be no more. 

He was in the spirit on the LonFs day, and heard 
behind him a great voice as of a trumpet ; he turned, 
and what did he see ? Seven golden candlesticks, and 
in the midst of them stood one like to the Son of Man. 
Who shall portray the ecstasy of the beloved disciple^ 
when, after nearly a half century, his worshiped Master 
stood near ? and what a description he has given of his 
risen Lord ! " He was clothed with a garment down to 
his feet, and girt about with a golden girdle. His head 
and his hairs were white as wool — as white as snow — 
and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like 
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his 
voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his 
right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a 
sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the 
sun shineth in his strength. '^ Methinks it must have 
turned the lonely island into a paradise. How exultant 
must have been his feelings when Jesus said to him, " I 
am the first and the last : I am he that liveth and was 
dead ; and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen ; and 
have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which 
thou hast seen, and the things that are, and the things which 
shall be hereafter." What a field the telescope of his 
vision swept. 

John had stood beside Jesus when he wept over, the 
beloved city ; he heard the pitiful cry wrung from the 
heart of Mary's Son, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! how 



64 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her 
brood under her wings, but you would not/^ With 
backward vision he had seen " nation rise against na- 
tion, kingdom against kingdom, famine, persecution, 
earthquakes, wldch were the beginning of sorrows/' He 
had seen the destruction of the old Jerusalem, that had 
dyed her hands in the blood of prophets and apostles ; 
and, last of all, had put to deatli the only-begotten Son 
of God. He had seen the magnificent temple, which was 
so long building, leveled in the dust, and the pride of 
the nations of the earth, a heap of ruins. Before him 
rose the glittering walls and pearly gates of the city of 
the great King — the New Jerusalem — and the voice of 
harpers, and the glad songs of the redeemed, who had 
come up through much tribulation. Again he looked 
upon his Lord — not in the agony of Gethsemane, the 
sweat of Calvary, nor the parting on the mount of as- 
cension — but in the grandeur and beauty of his regal 
surroundings. How glorious the transformation must 
have seemed to John. The weary, toil-worn, sorrowing 
Nazarene, stood before the aged disciple in the resplend- 
ent glory of his Kingship, '^ Lord of lords and King of 
kings.'' No wonder that John fell at his feet to wor- 
ship him. 

The book of "Revelation is a wonderful production 
in many respects. One peculiarity of it is that it closes 
when the Old Testament begins. The tree of life was 
in man's Edenic home ; by disobedience he lost access 
to it, and an angel, with a fiery sword, was placed at the 
gate to bar his return, lest he should pluck and eat of 
the tree of life, growing in the midgt of the garden, and 
eating, become immortal in sin. The tree of life is 
mentioned in Gen. iii., and is not spoken of again until 



THE FINAL MESSAGE. 65 

the Revelation by John in Patmos, — Rev. ii. 7, 
" To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree 
of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God/* 
[n the last and closing chapter it is twice mentioned, 
showing a continuity of thought between the Old and 
New Testaments. 

We will now suppose John and his Lord holding a 
conversation. John says, *^ Dear Lord, are you coming 
again into the world, or will you remain upon your 
throne and leave all things as they are V^ Jesus answers, 
" I will come again, and quickly.'' Quickly with the 
Lord does not mean to-day, nor to-morrow, nor next 
year ; a day with him is as a thousand years, and a thou- 
sand years are as a day. I have sometimes thought — 
but it is only an opinion, and worth no more — that as 
the Patriarchal religion lasted about two thousand years, 
the Jewish about two thousand, so the Christian will 
remain two thousand, when the end will come, and 
Christ will reign upon the earth a thousand years — the 
Sabbatic millennium. " What will be the object of your 
coming ? Will you again walk with weary feet Judea's 
paths, to suffer and die upon a Roman cross *' " No, 
John. Behold, I come quickly, and bring my reward 
or award with me, to give every man as his work shall 
be, and to take vengeance on those who know not God, 
and obey not the gospel of his Son.'' 

The Lord does not keep a book of debit and 
credit, like the merchant, but his award is according 
to the life of a man. For instance, a man may 
be an excellent chimney-builder; he may make an 
hundred chimneys and only one may smoke. This 
would not be called the man's work. A very bad 
workman might occasionally make a good chimney, yet 



66 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

tliat would not be considered his work. So a man might 
live a pious and godly life, and yet some time, under 
strong temptation, commit sin. The exception would 
not be called the man's work. So a bad man might, 
under some impulse, do a good act ; but this would not 
cause him to be considered a good man. The daily life 
of a man, the acts he performs, the good or bad deeds 
he does, make up the sum of his work, and for it he will 
be rewarded or punished, as the word means either. 

" Dear Lord,'' says John, " is your decision final ? — 
is there no appeal ? Who are you that say these things ? 
I ask not for myself, but for those who shall read the 
prophecy of this book.'' '* I am Alpha and Omega, 
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. After 
me there comes no other judge ; as there were none be- 
fore me, there will be none to follow after." John says, 
" Pardon me, dear Lord ; you gave us here a little and 
there a little, here a command and there a precept ; are 
all equally binding ? Did you mean for all to be obeyed ? 
Who shall be saved ? Tell me so plainly, that none can 
mistake the plan of salvation." Jesus says, " Blessed 
are they who do the commandments " — not they who be- 
lieve and obey what they think essential, and leave the 
others undone. In what shall that blessing consist ? 
" They shall have a right to the tree of life, and may 
enter in through the gates into the city." " Lord will all 
be saved ? — will all enter heaven ?" *' No ; for without 
are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and idolators, 
and murderers, and whosoever loveth and maketh a 
lie." [Dogs, in the Bible, mean cross and snarling peo- 
ple]. *^Lord, do the people know these things ? Have 
you notified them that you will come again, and bring 
your reward with you, so that each shall receive as his 



THE FINAL MESSAGE. 67 

work has been ?" " Yes, John ; I, Jesus^ have sent 
mine angel to testify unto all, these things in the 
churches ; all have heard ; the world is without excuse/' 
" Pardon me, dear Lord ; by what authority do you say 
these things ?'' " I am the root and the offspring of 
David [David's Lord and David's King] ; I am the 
bright and morning star, the Sun of righteousness that 
was to arise, with healing in his wings, to illumine the 
darkest and remotest corners of the earth." " I am satis- 
fied," said John. '* Please tell me, are all invited, or is 
salvation promised only to the elect, who were predes- 
tinated from all eternity by the predetermined will of 
God to be saved, without any reference to character or 
condition." " All are invited ; and the Spirit and the 
bride (church) say. Come. And let him that heareth say, 
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever 
will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely. 
None need be turned away, or lost, if they will to be 
saved." 

" Once more, my beloved Master ; we are living under 
the third dispensation of religion. The Jewish and 
Patriarchal lasted about two thousand years each ; they 
were removed to give place to the Christian religion, 
with a better covenant, and better promises. The law, 
which was but a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, was 
taken out of the way. Will there be any more changes ? 
Will we have another revelation of the will of God to 
man ? Is this book to be the one law to govern and control 
us till the end of time?'' 

" This is the last dispensation of religion that the 
world will ever receive — the last revelation ; if any man 
shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the 
plagues that are written in this book ; and if any man shall 



^S SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, 
God shall take his part out of the book of life, and out 
of the holy city, and from the things that are written in 
this book." 

Thus closes Revelation and the Bible. If it is 
wrong to take from Revelation, it is wrong to take from 
Matthew, Mark, or the Acts of the Apostles. Here is 
laid down the last will of our heavenly Father so plainly 
that none can mistake it ; and the closing chapter assures 
us, in unmistakable 'terms, that not the hearers of the 
law only, but the doers, shall be blest in the doing ; and 
that none but obedient believers will ever be permitted 
to enter the gate into the city, and eat of the tree of life 
that grows in the midst of the garden of God, close by 
the river of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the 
nations. 



THEEEFOLD NATURE OF SPIRITUAL IN- 
FLUENCE. 

Very many requests have been made regarding the publica- 
tion of the Doctor's sermons. I regret that he could never 
be persuaded to write out a few of his best ones, at least. He had 
an instinctive dislike to the mechanical part of writing. He was 
once offered $500.00 for ten sermons, but would not accept the 
proposition. 

One reporter, however, gave a very correct synopsis of the 
discourse on the "Threefold Nature of Spiritual Influence," 
which I have preserved, and will insert here, in order to give an 
idea of the character of the^ sermon. He says: "Elder Hopson, 
who, during six weeks, has been delivering a series of sermons 
before crowded audiences in the First Christian Chapel, preached 
about three weeks ago upon * The Threefold Nature of Spiritual 
Influence.' His positions having been uncandidly assailed, and 
the discourse having attracted great attention, he was invited to 
repeat it. The chapel at the corner of Eighth and Walnut 
streets, not being sufficiently capacious to accommodate all who 
desired to hear him, Smith & Nixon's Hall was engaged for the 
occasion, and the discourse was repeated there last night. That 
spacious auditorium was crowded to excess, and there was not 
room for more to enter, even the vestibule, while at least a thou- 
sand or fifteen hundred ladies and gentlemen turned from the 
doors disappointed, being unable to crowd in." 

The sermon occupied two hours. It was generally con- 
sidered a masterpiece of clear, compact reasoning; or, to use the 
language of a very intelligent Baptist citizen, " It was a structure 
of logic, the premises of which being admitted, is unanswer- 
able." As a specimen of noble pulpit oratory, too, it took rank 
among the finest illustrations with which a massive and intelli- 
gent audience of this city was ever favored ; and it was more re- 
markable in all its points because entirely extemporaneous. 

Elder Hopson read for his text from John xiv. 16, 17, 26 ; 
-Xvi', 13. 

69 



70 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

His first proposition was that " all truth (with that in the 
Old Testament) is necessarily threefold." 

The Godhead is threefold — Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit ; God is threefold — Creator, Preserver, and Bene- 
factor ; Christ is threefold — Jesus, Christ, Son of God ; 
Son of Adam, Son of Abraham, Son of God. We infer 
from this that the Spirit itself must be threefold in its 
nature and operations. The influences of the Spirit are 
threefold. (1) Physical ; acting upon inanimate matter, 
good men, bad men and brutes alike. (2) Intellectual ; 
operating upon man as a reasoning and responsible be- 
ing, through the teachings of the apostles in the word of 
God, as taught them by the Holy Spirit. (3) Spiritual ; 
in preference to moral, the indwelling, comforting in- 
fluence of the Spirit. 

1. The physical influence of the Spirit does not 
necessarily make men wiser nor better, for he acts 
upon them as mere machines, causing them to do 
and say whatever he wills. The prophets and apostles 
often spoke as the Spirit moved them, without them- 
selves understanding the import or meaning of their ut- 
terances. Peter says, in his first Epistle (i. 10), that 
the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ and the 
glory that should follow, inquired and searched dili- 
gently what manner of time the Spirit signified, when it 
testified of the sufi^erings of Christ and the glory that 
should follow, " Unto whom it was revealed, that not 
unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the 
things which are now reported unto you by them that 
have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost 
sent down from heaven ; which things the angels desire 
to look into " (I. Pet. i. 12). " For the prophecy came 
not in old time by the will of man : but holy men of 



SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE, THREEFOLD. 71 

God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost " 
(II. Pet. i. 21). 

The physical influence of the Holy Spirit came down 
on the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and made them 
speak in thirteen different languages, so that all the rep- 
resentatives of other nations present could understand 
what the Spirit signified by this marvelous manifesta- 
tion. Caiaphas, as a high priest, said, it was better 
that one man should die than that the whole people 
should perish ; yet, as a man, said Christ was an im- 
postor. When Peter said on the day of Pentecost, 
^' The promise is to you and to your children, and to all 
them that are afar off (the Gentiles), he understood the 
first part, but did not believe the last utterance. He had 
no idea that the heathen nations of the earth were to re- 
ceive equal benefits with the Jews, who had hitherto 
been God's favorite people and the apple of his eye, and 
it took three miracles to convince him that the gospel 
was to be preached to the Gentiles, and a direct com- 
mand from the Spirit to induce him to go to the house 
of Cornelius; and it took the fourth — the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost on Cornelius and his household — to con- 
vince the six Jewish brethren, whom Peter took with 
him, that God had granted the Gentiles repentance unto 
life. 

The Holy Spirit made Balaam bless when he wanted 
to curse ; he seized the tongue of the animal Balaam 
rode and caused it to reprove its master. 

The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the tomb, and will 
raise our bodies also in the resurrection morning. (Rom. 
viii. 11). These are some of the instances where the 
physical influences of the Holy Spirit are exerted. 

It made the prophets no wiser, nor Peter. It made 



72 SERMONS OF DrI W. H. HOPSON. 

Balaam, Caiaphas, and the animal Balaam rode, no better, 
nor did it change Cornelius ; he was as good a man as it 
was possible for him to be. God-fearing, alms-giving, 
devout, prayerful. No better man ever lived. The 
Holy Spirit did not enlighten him, for Peter was to tell him 
" words whereby he and his house should be saved ;" or, 
in other words, says God : " I have heard your prayer ; 
it has brought you in remembrance before me ; but I 
can not forgive your sins, because I have told my chosen 
apostles that unto them is committed the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven ; T can only send you to one of 
these. Send down to Joppa and you will find one Simon, 
whose surname is Peter, at the house of one Simon, a 
tanner ; he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.'' 
Peter came, and preached the gospel. (See Acts x. 34.) 
He told Cornelius that he was already acquainted with 
the life and work of Jesus, and his mission (37), and it 
would only be necessary to tell him what the Lord com- 
manded him to do in order to receive the benefit he 
prayed for — remission of sins. The only thing Peter 
commanded him to do was to " be baptized in the name 
of the Lord." 

Paul says, in I. Cor. ii. 13 : ^' Which things also we 
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, 
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," teaching conclu- 
sively, that all the epistles, as well as the gospels, were 
written under the direct influence of the Spirit — he, 
himself, inditing the words as well as the sentiment. 
Herein lies the mighty power of The Word. 

While the baptism of the Holy Ghost ceased, the 
miraculous manifestations continued in the early church, 
and were called gifts. These were not given to benefit 
the individual upon whom they were bestowed, but for 



SPIEITUAL INFLUENCE, THREEFOLD. 73 

the profit of the whole body. (See I. Cor. xli). To 
one was given ^' the word of wisdom ; to another, the 
word of knowledge ; to another, faith ; to another, the 
gift of healing; to another, the working of miracles;, 
to another, the discerning of spirits ; to another, divers 
kinds of tongues ; to another, the interpretations of 
tongues ; the self-same Spirit dividing to every man 
severally as he will." 

Because a man was the recipient of any of these gifts, 
it did not prove that God loved him better than another 
who received none of them. Paul says : " Covet 
earnestly the best gifts, but I show you a more excellent 
way.'' 

All these things will profit you nothing unless you 
are filled with love, that suffereth long and is kind. 
" Prophecies shall fail, tongues shall cease, knowledge 
shall vanish away ;" all that is wonderful and miraculous 
shall be done away with, but love will remain to bind us 
to each other and to the throne of God. 

It is folly for men to pray for a baptism of the Holy 
Ghost. The Holy Ghost came down from heaven on 
the day of Pentecost, and has never left the earth. 
When Jesus was upon the earth, the Holy Ghost was in 
heaven (John vii. 39). 

In John xiv. 16-17 : " I will pray the Father, and he 
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abid ; 
with you forever ; even the Spirit of Truth, whom the 
world can not receive, because it seeth him not, neither 
knoweth him : but ye know him : for he dwell eth with 
you, and shall be in you." Ver. 26 : " But the Comforter, 
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in 
ray name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all 
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said 



74 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

unto you ;'^ xv. 26 : " But when the Comforter is come, 
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the 
Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he 
shall testify of me :" xvi. 7 : " Nevertheless, I tell you 
the truth ; it is expedient for you that I go away : for if 
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you : hut 
if I depart I will send him unto youJ'^ From the time 
Jesus left the earth till the day of Pentecost, God had 
no representative on earth. On that day, when Christ 
had been coronated ^^ Lord of lords and King of kings," 
he fulfilled his promise, and the Holy Ghost was sent 
down from heaven with the sound as of a rushing, 
mighty wind, and sat upon the • apostles with cloven 
tongues, like as of fire. It was to abide with them 
forever. There is no record that it has been recalled, 
and hence to pray for God to send down the Holy Spirit 
is to say to God and Jesus Christy You promised to send 
him to us, but have failed to fulfill your promise, and is 
a want of faith in God's word. 

We may ask. Why was it necessary that the apostles 
should receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost ? We 
answer. It was fitting that the regeneration, or new dis- 
pensation, should be introduced to the world in a man- 
ner to attract and fasten the attention of the world upon 
it. A whole nation was to be called away from a God- 
given religion, from the gorgeous ritualism of Judaism 
and the temple worship. They were to give up their 
priesthood, with their sacrifices and oblations, and to ac- 
cept a new religion, taking the humble and despised 
Nazarene as a leader. It required some extraordinary 
manifestation to convince the Jewish nation that the re- 
ligion was divine in its origin, as was theirs. Afler the 
Christian Church was firmly established, all miracles 



SPIRITUAL INFUENCE, THREEFOLD. 75 

ceased, as the necessity for them ceased. The descent of 
the Holy Spirit was a miracle, and never to be repeated. 
" He shall abide with you forever ;" and when Christ 
comes the second time the Spirit will present the church 
to him, a bride adorned for her husband, saying, I have 
finished the work thou gavest me to do. 

2. In the second place, the intellectual influence of 
the Holy Spirit operates upon man as a reasoning being, 
through the truth, as found in the Word of God. God 
says to the man he has created, '^ Come, let us reason 
together,'' — let us talk of the things which concern your 
highest interest, the salvation of your soul. He sets evil 
and good before man, and the motives that should in- 
fluence him in choosing. He tells him of the blessed- 
ness of obedience to his commandments, and the disastrous 
consequence of disobedience. He exposes to his view 
the pitfalls spread on every side by the enemy for his 
destruction. He points out the broad and beaten path 
that leads to death, and the strait and narrow path which 
leads to life. 

God has reasoned with his people in all ages; he has 
never attempted to induce them to serve him by any 
mysterious influence, but he has made his desires and 
commands known by words spoken by a prophet or an 
apostle. Long ago he told the Jewish people all he had 
done for them from the beginning (see Joshua xxiv.), 
when he called Abraham from the other side of the flood, 
where his father's house served idols. He said he had 
given them a land for which they did not labor, cities 
which they did not build, and vineyards and olive yards 
which they had not planted ; and he asks the question^ 
Does it seem evil unto you to serve me ? " Choose ye 
this day whom ye will serve." If you do not want to 



76 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

serve me, after all I have done for you ; if Baal be God, 
serve him. What more could I have doue for my 
vineyard than I have already done ? I have given them 
line upon line, precept upon precept, and yet they will 
not hear me when I call. The day will come when T 
will laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear 
cometh. 

A man will say, " Now, it is just as I thought. Dr. 
Hopson does not believe in the operation of the Spirit 
in conversion.'' If any one thinks this, he is mistaken. 
I do not believe any human being was ever convicted or 
converted without an operation of the Spirit. Christ 
says, in talking to the disciples (John vi. 44, 45) : " No man 
can come to me, except the Fatlier which hath sent me, 
draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is 
written in the prophets. And they shall all be taught of God. 
Every man, therefore, that hath heard j and hath learned of 
the Father, cometh unto me " ( ver. 63). " It is the Spirit 
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing : The words 
that I speak unto you, they are spirit^ and they are lifej'^ 
Does not the Bible say the Spirit quickens ? Can any 
one doubt it ? The Spirit is the agent, and the word of 
God the instrument, in producing life. The Spirit sows 
the seed (the word of God) in the heart, from which springs 
life. " Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
God. " In this way the intellectual power of the Holy Spirit 
is exerted upon man. Again, Paul says in I. Cor. xii. 3 : 
" No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy 
Ghost." Which means that only through the teaching 
of the prophets, who foretold the coming of the Mes- 
siah, and of the apostles, who walked and talked with 
Jesus after he had appeared in the flesh, are we able 



SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE, THREEFOLD. 77 

to believe that he is the Lord. These all spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost. 

3. Lastly, the spiritual influence of the Spirit. This 
seems to be an awkward phrase, but it is the only one 
that will convey my idea of this influence given to the 
church and dwelling in Christians and actuating them. 

We might ask here, To whom is the Holy Spirit 
promised and given ? Is it given to the sinner ? We 
answer. No ! Chiist said. The world can not receive 
my spirit or the Spirit of Truth, which I send unto my 
disciples, to be with them forever. 

Some one says here. Did not Christ say in Luke xi. 
13, " Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to 
them that ask him''? Yes; but who does the "them" 
signify? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good 
gifts unto your children : how much more will your 
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit " to his chil- 
dren when they ask him. Then, first, those who are the 
children of God receive the Holy Spirit. Second, (Acts 
v. 32 : " And we are witnesses of these things ; and so is 
also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that 
obey him.'' The obedient man, not simply the believer, 
receives the Holy Spirit. (See Acts ii. 38) : " Repent, . 
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Ghost." Then the baptized peni- 
tent believer receives the Holy Ghost. Why does God 
give the Holy Spirit to his children ? (Gal. iv. 6), 
" And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit 
of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba — Father." The 
Holy Spirit was given to tliem because they were the 
children of God, and not to induce them to become his 
sons. Again, are We " sealed wdth the Holy Spirit of 



78 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance until the 
redemption of the purchased possession." *' Grieve not 
the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the 
day of redemption" (Eph. iv. 30). 

We are led by the Spirit (Gal. v. 18). We are sanc- 
tified by the Spirit, or made holy by his indwelling pres- 
ence (I. Pet. i. 2). By it, or through it, we have access 
to the Father (Eph. ii. 18), " The Spirit itself beareth wit- 
ness with our spirit that we are the children of God." 
" If you have the fruits of the Spirit" the Spirit says, ^* I 
dwell in you ; but if the Spirit of him that raised up 
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ 
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by 
his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 

Lastly, the grandest office of the Holy Spirit is its 
strengthening and comforting influence. (Rom. viii. 26), 
*^ Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we 
know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the 
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings 
which can not be uttered." 

To every human being there come hours of sadness 
and gloom, when the sky seems brass above our heads, 
when the soul is so burdened with grief we can not even 
cry out for help ; we are dumb with sorrow. In such an 
hour, how cheering to the Christian is the assurance that 
the Holy Spirit, which God has given us for a guest and 
comforter, will take up our agonized cry and our unut- 
terable groanings, and bear them to the throne of God, 
and say to our Father in heaven. Bless thy sorrowing, 
stricken one. Truly the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, 
and teaches us to pray for what we ought, and will not 
forsake us till it leaves us in the hands of Jesus on the 



SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE, THREEFOLD. 79 

other shore, and will still watch over our sleeping dust 
till the resurrection morning. 

We will recapitulate and close this address : 

1. Spiritual influence is threefold in its manifesta- 
tion — physical, acting on good men, bad men and brutes. 
It makes the recipients neither wiser nor better, and is 
given for the benefit of others. The baptism of the 
Holy Ghost was almost invariably accompanied with 
speaking in tongues, was a sign, not to them that be- 
lieve, but to them that believe not (I. Cor. xiv. 22). 
The prophets foretold events by the physical influence 
of the Spirit, but had to study to ascertain what the 
Spirit meant, which spoke through them. 

2. The Holy Spirit operates intellectually through 
the word or Bible. We are born of the Spirit, " We 
are born of the incorruptible seed, by the word of God, 
which liveth and abideth forever " (the Logos — God^s 
thought of himself). The word of God is the agent, 
and the Spirit the instrument, by which faith is pro- 
duced. What God has joined together let no man put 
asunder. There never was faith operated in any human 
heart without both participating. In Rom. x. 13-15 : 
" Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall 
be saved. How shall they call on him in whom they 
have not believed ? and how shall they believe in him 
of whom they have not henrd ? and how shall they hear 
without a preacher? and how shall they preach except 
they be sent ?'' So, then, faith comes by hearing, and is 
not a direct gift of God, in some mysterious, inexplic- 
able manner, in answer to prayer. 

Faith itself is an intellectual operation. A proposi- 
tion is stated, for instance, that ^' Jesus is the Christ, the 
Son of God." Witnesses are produced to testify that he 



80 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

was born, lived, and died, as is claimed of him. The 
testimony appeals to man's reason, and he weighs the 
evidence, and decides that it is sufficient to satisfy him 
that the claim is just ; he believes upon the testimony, 
and this is faith. So far the Spirit has operated upon 
him intellectually. The goodness of God, as portrayed 
in the gift of his only -begotten Son, leads man to re- 
pentance, which touches the heart, and brings the sinner 
to cry out, " God be merciful to me." When he be- 
comes obedient to the faith thus operated in his heart, he 
receives the spiritual influence of the Holy Spirit to 
dwell in him as a comforter, which, with the Word, will 
abide forever. 

For those who differ from me I have no unkind feel- 
ing. I must concede to them honesty of purpose and 
sincere convictions, hut believe they are mistaken, as I 
have endeavored to prove from Scripture teaching. May 
they find the light, and walk in it, is my earnest prayer. 



CAN WE BE WRONG? 

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (I. Thess. v. 21). 
Read John xvii. 20, 21 ; Rom. xvi. 17. 

My proposition is : Other churches may be right ; 
they may be wrong (not logically). We, as a people, 
are right, and can not possibly be wrong. No doubt 
hundreds of good people who hear this proposition will 
consider me both impudent and presumptuous. " But 
hear me ; then strike. " 

Suppose that in your neighborhood there is a large 
family of sons and daughters ; children of the same 
parents, bound together by ties of blood, but who, not- 
withstanding this, are always quarreling about the terri- 
tory they shall occupy, and disputing about trifles, each 
one trying to pull down the other and build himself up, 
until the neighbors are thoroughly disgusted with all of 
them. The youngest son, becoming weary of this strife 
and bickering, proposes a plan upon which all can unite, 
and pleads with them by the love and respect due their 
parents, in the name of the honor of the family and for 
the peace of the neighborhood, to come together and 
strive to build each other up, instead of biting and de- 
vouring one another. In making this appeal, whether 
he succeeds or not in uniting them, will he not be posi- 
tively right, and can he be wrong, and will not all com- 
mend him for the effort ? 

All over Christendom to-day the body of Christ is 
torn into factions. One says: ** Lo! here; another, Lo ! 

81 



82 SEEMONS OP DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

there ; and yet another, Lo ! yonder." The great outside 
world looks on and mocks, saying : " Are these the fol- 
lowers of the meek and lowly Jesus, who said, ' My peace 
I leave with you,' and who made the conversion of the 
world dependent upon the unity and union of his people V* 
These parties all claiming to be branches of the vine, all 
children of a common Father, will not affiliate with each 
other. They have no fellowship, each endeavoring to 
pull the other down ; one preaching one doctrine, and 
another one contradicting it. They can not commune 
with each other, nor have they any fellowship one with 
another. (I. John i. 7.) 

Now, I will say that we, as a Christian organization, 
are the youngest members of the family. We deplore 
the terrible condition of things ; we are grieved to see 
God's people scattered like sheep without a shepherd, in 
a dark and cloudy day. We take the word of the living 
God in our hands, which all acknowledge to be " the 
only infallible rule of faith, discipline and practice," and 
step forward to try to reconcile these conflicting parties. 
W^e say to them, We have the same Father in heaven, 
who sent his only-begotten Son into the world to die for 
us ; the same Saviour who shed his blood for us, and 
prayed that all who believed on him might be one, as 
he and his Father are one. Why? That the world 
might believe that God had sent him. We plead with 
these different churches to give up party and human 
names, their strifes and divisions, and come together 
upon '* the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." If we do 
not succeed in breaking down these partition walls, and 
uniting the people of God, do we not deserve the com- 
mendation of all for the effort ? They may be right, 



CAN WE BE WRONG ? 83 

they may be wrong, in dividing the body of Christ ; but 
we are right, and can not possibly be wrong in pleading 
for union on the word of God, and that alone. 

Every pious and Christian heart admits that it would 
be better for the people of God to be united, if it could 
only be done. I propose to oiFer a plan by which it can 
be accomplished. 

1. I will not require any one to give up anything 
that will violate his conscience or duty ; but what they 
can surrender without either they must. I will do the 
same. This is right, and can not possibly be wrong, all 
will agree. In the first place, we must have a creed. 
Ah ! I thought you people did not believe in a creed. 
You thought wrong. We have a creed. Our Method- 
ist brother says, '^ I propose we take the Methodist Dis- 
cipline. I like it better than any other." The Baptist 
brother says, " The Philadelphia Confession of Faith 
suits me just as well, if not a little better, than tbat." 
The Presbyterian brother says, " The Westminister 
Confession of Faith is the work of very able, pious, 
godly men. I see no use in exchanging it for another." 
Can either of these parties take the creed of the other 
without giving up something that will violate conscience 
or duty ? No ! I propose the Bible, and the Bible 
alone, as the foundation upon which we can all unite. 
Can not these parties all surrender their creeds, and take 
the word of God as their guide, without violating con- 
science or duty? No one would dare to say they can 
not. They may be right in creeds, they may be wrong. 
We are right, and can not possibly be wrong, in being 
governed by the Divine creed. 

2. We must have a name. Can the Baptist give up 
his name for that of Methodist ? Can a Presbyterian 



84 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

take either ? No ! Then there is something in a name 
after all. Baptist means one who baptizes; Methodist, 
one who does things methodically, and in an orderly 
manner ; Presbyterian, an old man or woman — an elder. 
One of these names is as good as the other, and there 
would be no advantage gained by exchanging one human 
name for another. Could not they all give up these 
names and take the name Christian instead ? We say 
yes. I say to a Methodist, " You are not a Baptist ;'* 
or to a Baptist, " You are not a Presbyterian,^' and no 
offense is taken ; but if I say to either one of them, 
" You are not a Christian,^' they will resent it at once. 
There is nothing in any of these human names suggest- 
ive of the great Head of the church, after whom the 
whole family in heaven and earth is named. I then pro- 
pose the name Christian, without any prefix or affix. 
American, one of America ; European, one of Europe ; 
African, one of Africa ; Christian, one of Christ's, Christ- 
ed by the Holy Spirit with an unction from on high. 
Christ received it without measure, and we by measure. 
You may be right, you may be wrong, in wearing 
human names, none of which are given to the people of 
God in the Bible ; but we are right, and can not possibly 
be wrong, in accepting the name given the members of 
the early church in Antioch. The apostles Paul and 
Barnabas assembled themselves with the church at Anti- 
och a whole year, and taught much people, and called the 
disciples Christians first in Antioch. The teaching and 
the calling are in the same voice. Can not they con- 
scientiously give up their human names and take the 
name Christian ? They can. Can we take any one of 
their unauthorized names without violating our con- 
science or duty ? We can not. 



CAN WE BE WRONG? 86 

And then we are right, and can not possibly be 
wrong, as to doctrines taught. 

Calvinism. — Did God decree everything that comes 
to pass ? — that from all eternity a certain number should 
be saved anJ a certain number lost, and that the number 
can neither be increased nor diminislied, and that no 
act of the creature can change the decree ? The Calvin- 
ist says, Yes. If God decrees everything that comes to 
pass, then he decreed that Adam should eat the Ibrbid- 
den fruit. Did he decree that ? No ! Why ? Because 
he commanded him not to eat. God's decrees and com- 
mands never conflict. If he did not decree that, then 
he does not decree everything that comes to pass as re- 
gards man. God does not decree in regard to matter, 
but he wills in reference to spirit. His decrees always 
come to pass ; for instance, he decrees that when the ap- 
ple is dislodged from its stem it shall fall to the ground. 
He decrees that in certain conditions of the atmos- 
phere smoke shall rise in the air, and that in certain other 
conditions it shall fall to the ground ; that oil will float 
on water. These decrees always come to pass. But his 
will, as expressed in commands to a being with a will of 
his own, God-given, it is true, is not always executed. 

But even admittinoj the truth of Calvinism for the 
sake of argument, will it change a man's destiny? If 
he believes, repents and obeys the gospel it will b6 in 
accordance with the decree — if Calvinism be true ; but if 
it be false, obedience to God's commands is the only plan 
of salvation ; and if we continue faithful unto death, 
we will be eternally happy. 

Calvinism may be right ; it may be wrong ; but we 
are right, and can not possibly be wrong in obeying 
Christ in all his commandments. 



86 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

Universalism, — If the doctrine of Universalism be 
true, that all men will finally be holy and bappy, we will 
be saved with tbe rest, though I could never exactly 
understand what the Universalist would save us from if 
there be no devil nor any hell. But if Universalism is 
false, as I feel sure it is, we shall be saved by faith and 
in obedience. They may be right ; they may be wrong; 
but we are positively right, and can not possibly be wrong. 

Arminianism asserts that faith is the condition of sal- 
vation ; that when any one believes with the whole 
heart, at that moment he is pardoned and becomes the 
child of God, provided God has given him that faith 
through an operation of the Holy Spirit, by which 
it becomes saving faith. I see but little difference be- 
tween Calvinism and Arminianism. In the first in- 
stance, God decrees whoni he will save ; in the second 
instance, he sends his Holy Spirit with the gift of faith, 
to whom he will, also. Is not this true ? See the 
months and years men and women pray for faith and 
pardon, earnestly and agonizingly, and without relief, 
some of them being communicants in the church for 
many years, before they become the recipients of this 
faith. 

Now, we claim to have this saving faith by the oper- 
ation of the Spirit through the word— the incorruptible 
seed sown in our hearts; then, in addition, demand 
obedience to the ordinances of the gospel, as laid down 
by Christ in the New Testament ; and when we have 
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine delivered 
us, we are then made free from sin, and not through 
faith alone. 

They may be right ; they may be wrong ; but we are 
positively right, and can not possibly be wrong. 



87 



OPERATION OF THE SPIRIT. 



Let us determine where we agree : (1) That the Holy 
Spirit operates. (2) That he operates through the Word. 
(3) That he dwells in the bosom of Christians, to com- 
fort and strengthen them, and to intercede for them. (4) 
That it witnesseth with our spirits that we are the chil- 
dren of God if we have its fruits — love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, etc. Where we differ. They affirm that the 
" Holy Spirit operates generally through the truth in 
conversion, but sometimes without it/^ We deny the 
" sometimes without it,'' and affirm that the Holy Spirit, 
in conviction and conversion, operates only through the 
word of God. 

We will go to the first gospel sermon ever preached 
under the Christian dispensation on the day of Pente- 
cost. The Holy Spirit came down from heaven and sat 
upon the apostles, as it were, or resembling " cloven 
tongues of fire," and the whole house was filled with it. 
This wonderful phenomenon attracted the attention of 
the people, and it was soon noised abroad, and a great 
multitude ran together to see what this strange manifest- 
ation signified. These Galileans spoke thirteen different 
languages that day, so that every man heard the gospel 
in his own tongue. The descent of the Spirit did not 
convict or convert a single soul ; they were only " con- 
founded and amazed, and were in doubt, saying, one to 
another. What meaneth this ?" Some mocked, and said 
the apostles were drunk. Then Peter, standing up with 
the eleven, lifted up his voice and preached to them, 
quoting from their own prophets that these things were 
to come to pass which they saw and heard. He told 
them how that in the last days a prophet was to be raised 



88 SEKMONS OF BR. W. H. HOPSON. 

up like unto Moses ; that they were to hear him ; that 
Christ was the one spoken of by the patriarch David, 
to whom God had sworn with an oath ^' that of the fruit 
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up 
Christ to sit on his throne/^ He then told them that 
they had taken this Christ and crucified him, shedding 
innocent blood. Now '^ when they heard thisy or these 
words/' they were convicted that they were sinners of 
the deepest dye, and in agony cried out to Peter and the 
rest of the apostles, " Men and brethren, what shall we 
do ?" For what ? Remission of sins, of course, to ob- 
tain forgiveness ; and he told them what was essential to 
the pardon of sin. Now, I affirm that there never was 
an instance of any human being who was convicted or 
converted who had never heard of Christ ; therefore 
their proposition, " sometimes without it," falls to the 
ground. Read the thousands of conversions in the 
Acts of the Apostles and be convinced. (Acts iv. 4.) 
Howbeit many of them which heard the word believedy 
and the number was about five thousand. Cornelius 
heard, the jailer heard, Lydia heard, and every soul that 
has ever been converted had to learn the story of the 
Cross before he could love or serve Jesus. 

They may be right ; they may be wrong ; we are 
right, and can not possibly be wrong, in contending for 
the gospel plan of salvation. 

Immersion the only baptism ; so we affirm. In sup- 
port of our theory we have the authority of the best 
scholars, who admit that the primary meaning of the 
word Bapto is to dip, sink, or immerse. These men are, 
some of them, members of the Church of England, 
some of the Lutheran Church of Germany, some mem- 
bers oi other religious denominations. We have the 



CAN WE BE WRONG? 89 

testimony of one who is a member of the Greek Church, 
a native Greek, and thoroughly posted in the meaning of 
his own language, and was at the time of his death pro- 
fessor of Greek in one of the first educational establish- 
ments in America. He takes this word Bapto and gives 
its meaning from one hundred and forty-six years before 
Christ, to eleven hundred years after Christ, including, 
particularly, its '' theological '^ sense, if it has any differ- 
ing from its classical sense. He defines it to dip, to 
immerse, or to sink. These are the literal meanings of 
the word. Beside this, we have the universal practice 
of 85,665,954 members of the Greek Church, of 
8,500,000 Baptists, 1,000,000 of the members of the 
Christian Church, with its sympathizers, who contend 
for and immerse only. Besides all this, every honest 
and intelligent Pedobaptist is compelled to acknowledge, 
by his own definition of the word, that immersion "in 
the name of the Trinity is baptism ;" hence all admit 
that immersion is one mode of baptism, and valid. They 
can be immersed without violating their conscience or 
duty ; we can not have water poured or sprinkled upon 
us. They may be right ; they may be wrong ; but we 
are positively light, and can not possibly be wrong in 
being immersed. 

But we differ from some of the so-called orthodox 
churches on the design of baptism. The Greek Church, 
the Roman Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presby- 
terian Church, and the Methodist Church, all have in 
their formula to be used in baptizing adults or infants 
about this prayer, " We call upon Thee for these per- 
sons, that they, coming to thy holy baptism, may receive 
remission of sins." 

Now, an infinitesimal minority contend that a 



90 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

sinner is pardoned whenever he has saving or evangelical 
faith — he then becomes a child of God without any overt 
act on his part. That is, that " they are justified and 
sanctified by faith alone. ^' 

We, as a church, claim that when a sinner believes 
with the whole heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
the living God, repents of his sins, confesses Christ be- 
fore men, and is immersed ^^ into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,^' then, and then 
only, does that person receive remission of sins. 

This is the New Testament in my blood shed for the 
remission of sin ('^ eis aphesin hamartion '') — not because 
of. John's baptism was for remission of sins (eis ophe- 
si7i hamartion), Peter said (Acts ii. 38), ^^ Repent, and 
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ, for the remission of sins '^ {eis aphesin hamar- 
tion). Was the blood of Jesus Christ shed because the 
sins of the world were pardoned, or, in order to ? Was 
John's baptism because of, or, in order to, pardon or re- 
mission ? If not, then the same expression used by Peter 
on Pentecost means for, or in order to, and not because 
those people were already pardoned, and Christians. 

The word used by all Pedobaptist churches indicates 
that baptism is the christening act ; hence they say the 
child is going to be christened, or Christianed — made a 
Christian in this act of baptism. 

Others may be right, they may be wrong, in contend 
ing that we are justified by faith alone. We are right, 
and can not be wrong, when we contend for works also, 
as faith without works is dead, being alone. If they are 
saved by faith, we shall be. Obedience will not pre- 
vent it. 

Another important point of difference is : We con- 



CAN WE BE WRONG? 91 

tend, as a people, that the Lord's day and the Lord's 
Supper should go together, and that the latter should be 
celebrated every Lord's day. Some churches partake of 
it once a month; some, once in three months ; some, at 
Easter, or once a year. The early Christian Church 
partook of it every Lord's day for three hundred years, 
the Greek Church for six hundred. We contend that it 
is a memorial institution, and should be celebrated as 
often as it is proper to do so. We observe the 4th of 
July once a year, with its appropriate ceremonies; so the 
8th of January, and the 22d of February. How often 
can we celebrate these days ? Once a year. It would 
be just as sensible to celebrate the 4th of July every 
three years as to take the Lord's Supper every three 
months, as many churches do. We meet on the first day 
of the week to break bread in commemoration of the 
death of Christ for our sins, acknowledging that on this 
day he also rose from among the dead for our justifica- 
tion. The two are as inseparable as the celebration of 
the 4th of July and the reading of the Declaration of 
Independence. They may be right; they may be wrong, 
in thus neglecting the ordinances of the Lord's house, but 
we are right, and can not possibly be wrong in follow- 
ing the apostolic practice. 

But lastly, says an objector, it is necessary to have a 
formulated creed and laws to govern a church, so that 
we can keep out unworthy members, or, if they become 
unworthy, to be able to get rid of them. We claim that 
the word of the living God is profitable for doctrine, re- 
proof, correction and instruction in righteousness, '' that 
the man of God may be perfect and thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." Now, if the word of God is suf- 
ficient for all this, then a human creed is superfluous, and 



92 SERMONS OP BR. W. H. HOPSON. 

only furnishes to a bad work, which is division among 
the people of God. 

You say, " How do you settle personal troubles in 
the church T^ We have the law laid down in Matt, 
xviii. 15-17; against heresy, Rom. xvi. 17 ; going 
to law with each other, I. Cor. vi. 1-4 ; doing things 
that will cause an oifense to others. Matt, xviii. 6, 
7 ; I. Cor. viii. 9-12 ; law regulating marriage and 
divorce, Matt. xix. 4-11 ; Rom. vii. 2, 3 ; remarriage 
of widows, I. Cor. vii. 39; authority for elders and ordi- 
nation qualifications. Tit. i. 5; their duty, I. Pet. v. 1-4 ; 
duty of the church to the elders, I. Pet. v. 5 ; I. Tim. 
V. 1-17, 19; the election of deacons, Acts vi. 2-6. Paul, 
in his epistle to the Philippians, i. 1, recognizes the office 
of both bishops (elders) and deacons. In the iii. of 1 
Tim. he gives some of the qualifications of bishops and 
deacons, so that a man in accepting the office need not 
be ignorant of his duty. 

There is not a relation that we sustain to God or 
man that is not clearly defined, and all obligations grow- 
ing out of it set forth. 

There is no need of a human creed, or a rule of life 
outside of this precious book, and while they may be 
right, they may be wrong in having a creed. We are 
positively right, and can not be wrong in contending lor 
the Bible, and the Bible alone, as sufficient to teach a 
man the w^ay into the right church, and from the church 
into heaven. 

May God hasten the day when his people shall all 
leave human leaders, human names, human creeds, and 
unite upon the only infallible rule of faith, discipline 
and practice. 



THE THREEFOLD IDEA. 

" In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit." (Matt, xxvii. 19.) 

"There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water, 
and the blood, and these three agree in one." (I. John v. 8.) 

The threefold nature of the Godhead has stamped 
itself upon nearly every fact and truth in the universe — 
upon the exceptions the Sabbattic number has left its 
impress. My proposition is, that nearly every truth in 
religion is threefold — that it must occur in a certain or- 
der, and that the preservation of that order is necessary 
to the preservation of the truth itself. 

We will call your attention, first to the grandest 
threefold idea in the universe, — the Godhead itself, 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each threefold in char- 
acter. The Father is Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor. 
First he must create-, then preserve, in order that he 
may do us good. The fact of creation involves the idea 
of ownership, and the privilege of disposing of the thing 
created as the maker pleases. I make a chair, a table, 
or any article of furniture ; the original material being 
mine, I have the right to sell it, to give it away, or to 
destroy it. 

God created us, we are his workmanship ; he owns 
us, he has the right to make whatever laws he may think 
necessary to govern our conduct ; and he has the right 
to enact penalties for the disobedient. Next, he pre- 
serves my life through dangers seen and unseen. From 



94 SERMONS OF BR. W. H. HOPSON. 

infancy to the present hour his watch-care has been 
over me ; but if he created me and preserves my life to 
torment and torture me, I would rather not have been 
created ; but if, having created and preserved me, he be- 
comes my benefactor and seeks to promote my happiness 
here and hereafter, I do care, and every emotion of my 
heart goes out in gratitude to him. Creation, preserva- 
tion, benefaction, — the last is the most important, for 
without it the other two would be worthless, and they 
must come in that order. He must first ereate, then he 
can preserve my life, then he can extend his beneficent 
hand in blessing on my life. 

The next grand threefold idea is the Son, Christ, 
Jesus, Son of God. As Christ he is Prophet, Priest, 
and King. As a prophet he gives us the knowledge of 
salvation by the remission of sins. He tt>aches us " the 
way, the truth, and the life,'* for he himself is the Truth 
that points the way to the life we seek. Moses said of 
him : " A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up 
like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever 
he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that 
every soul whicli will not hear that prophet, shall be de- 
stroyed from among the people." He was the true light 
which coming into the world enlighteneth every man 
that is enlightened. Secondly, as a priest, he came to 
offer blood, and in him was embodied the priest, the vic- 
tim, and the altar. He was made a priest forever after 
the order of Melchisedec, and after he had offered one 
sacrifice (his own blood) for sin, forever sat down at the 
right hand of God as our intercessor ; for by one offer- 
ing he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. 
Thirdly, he is King. All authority in heaven and earth 
is given unto him. He sways the scepter of universal 



THE THREEFOLD IDEA. 95 

empire ; his kingdom has been established, his edicts 
have been published, his laws promulgated ; he is seated 
on David's throne, and of the increase of his govern- 
ment there shall be no end. What would it matter to 
me if he taught me the way of salvation, if he washed 
my robes white in his blood — if he left me without laws 
to govern and control my conduct. We must have laws 
to govern our moral actions, to regulate our relations to 
God and toward our fellow-men. No kingdom can exist 
without laws. Then he is our Prophet to teach, our Priest 
to offer blood, and our King to rule over us. Without 
the last item, we should soon lapse into anarchy and 
confusion ; hence the last is the most important. 

Secondly, he is Jesus, and in a threefold sense, he 
saves us from our sins, from the grave, and, if faithful, 
from hell. What would it avail me if he saves me from 
my sins, and raises me from the dust of death, if he does 
not save me from hell ? The first two are valueless 
without the last. 

Thirdly, he is Son of God, in three senses — Son of 
God by creation. Son of God by adoption, and Son of 
God by inheritance. (Heb. i. 4.) Were he not the last 
he would have no power to save us. We are all the sons 
of God by creation ; many of us are sons of God by 
adoption ; but he only of woman born is the Son of 
God by inheritance. " He was of the seed of David ac- 
cording to the flesh ; and declared to be the Son of God 
with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the 
resurrection from the dead." "Being made so much 
better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance ob- 
tained a more excellent name than they." (Heb. i. 4.) 
The last fact gives him power over death, the grave, and 
hell, and is therefore the most important one in the trio. 



96 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. H0P80N. 

We now come to humanity. Man himself is a three- 
fold being, possessed of body, soul and spirit. 

What distinguishes man from the brute creation but 
his spirit. All you can know of a man is his name, his 
his residence and his character. Character means de- 
scription of the man physically, mentally, morally. 
Suppose you wish to locate a man. It does not matter 
n^hether he has fallen heir to an estate, or has committed 
some crime, making him amenable to the law of his 
country. You want the man. The first thing is to find 
his residence. We will try to find John Smith — the 
commonest name in the world. We will say he lives in 
Nevv York City. There may be a thousand John 
Smiths in that great city. Say he lives on Broadway. 
You have found the name and residence, but it may not 
be the man. !Now for his character and description. Is 
he tall or short, lean or fat, fair or dark, old or young, 
or middle-aged ? There may be two or three of the 
same name in the same house — father, son and grandson. 
John Smith primus, secundus, and tertius — which one is 
it ? Again, is he a bad man or a good man ? As to pro- 
fession or business, is he a merchant or a carpenter, a hod- 
carrier or a lawyer, a doctor or a minister ? What does 
he do to make a support ? Has he a middle name, or is 
he simply John Smith ? When you have reached a cor- 
rect knowledge of all these facts you can locate even 
that ubiquitous individual, John Smith. Then a man's 
name, residence and character are all you can know of 
him. The last is the most important, and without it you 
could never select your man from the thousands. 

There are three natures — the divine, the angelic, and 
the human. There are three kingdoms — the kingdom 



THE THREEFOLD IDEA. 97 

of nature, the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of 
glory. 

Again, we liave the mineral, the vegetable, and the 
animal kingdoms. 

We have three departments in our government — 
legislative, executive, and judicial. 

Evil and good are threefold. All of evil is lust, sin, 
and death ; all of good is faith, obedience, and life. Man 
IS a denizen of earth ; he must one day live in heaven 
or hell. 

Religion itself is a three times threefold idea — re- 
ligion, patriarchal, Jewish and Christian ; religion in 
system, in form, and in power ; religion in the head, the 
heart, and the life. The fruits of the Spirit are three times 
three, which is the acme of truth. It would be but the 
exercise of a schoolboy^s memory to multiply the illus- 
trations of this important truth. 

We will now come to the point for which all this 
has been said, and repeat our proposition. First, with 
few exceptions, truth is threefold. It must come in a 
certain order, and the preservation of that order is 
necessary to the preservation of the truth itself. 

Now, we come to the gospel. It must be threefold, 
or it is unlike its author. Our usual statement is that 
it consists of facts to be believed, commandments to be 
obeyed, and blessings to be enjoyed. The facts to be 
believed are three — the death, burial, and resurrection 
of Jesus Christ. They must come in their order. He 
could not be buried before he died ; he could not be 
raised before he was buried. Such a proposition would 
be absurd. He must first die, and then be buried, and 
then he could be raised from the dead. Thousands of 
men had died and been buried. His death and burial 



98 SEKMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

would be of no moment to us, if the third fact was not true, 
that he rose from the dead and brouglit life and immor- 
tality to light ; for if Christ be not risen from the dead, 
then our faith is in vain, and we are yet in our sins. He 
was declared to be the Son of God, with power accord- 
ing to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from 
among the dead. This was the last seal God set upon 
his ministry and proof of his divinity. The whole re- 
medial system rests upon the last proposition ; therefore 
the third fact is the important one. The commands are 
three — faith, repentance and baptism. Can we put re- 
pentance before faith? As well put the burial of Christ 
before liis death. Can we put baptism before either? 
As well assert the resurrection before the death and 
burial. 

You ask me, " Do you mean to say your proposition 
holds good here, and that the third item is the important 
one?" Most certainly I do. I still affirm that the» 
third condition is the important one, without which the 
first two would be valueless. Faith is the condition of 
obedience, and obedience the condition of salvation. 
Philip said to the eunuch : '^ If thou believest with all 
thine heart thou mayest — obey the gospel, — thou mayest 
be baptized. And he said, I believe, or have faith ; and 
he baptized him straightway.'' "He came unto his 
own, and his own received him not (did not believe in 
him). But as many as received him, to them gave he 
power (or privilege) to become the sons of God, even to 
them that believe on his name." (John i. 11-12.) All be- 
lievers had the privilege of obeying the gospel. "When 
they have obeyed the form of doctrine," then they are 
made made free from sin, and not through faith alone. 
Wesley says : " Baptism administered to real penitents 



THE THREEFOLD IDEA. 99 

is both a sign and seal of pardon/^ What use would a 
pardon be without the seal of the pardoning power at- 
tached, even in a human governmeut ? Wesley is not 
mistaken in attaching so much importance to the insti- 
tution of baptism. While it is not the seal of pardon, 
the seal can only be reached through obedience to that 
ordinance. " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby 
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Eph. iv. 
30). The Holy Spirit is the seal of pardon. Repent- 
ance can not come before faith. We could not repent 
toward a being in whom we did not first believe. Paul 
testified both to Jews and Greeks, " repentance toward 
God (in whom they did believe and whom they had sinned 
against), and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." This 
is the only place repentance before faith is mentioned in 
the Bible, and it regards one being, while faith has another 
object. We assert that the commandments must pre- 
serve the order — faith, first ; repentance, second ; bap- 
tism, third ; and the last is the most important, humanly 
speaking, as it is a proof of faith and repentance. 

The blessings to be enjoyed are three — remission of sins, 
sonship, or adoption, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
My proposition still holds good. We must first have 
our sins washed away in Christ's blood. When sin, 
which separates us from God, is taken out of the way, 
we are adopted sons of God ; and because we become 
his sons, he sends forth the Spirit of his Son into our 
hearts, crying, Abba — Father. We have first pardon, 
then sonship, then the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. The 
last is the crowning glory of the Christian religion. It 
would do no good to pardon our sins and adopt us as 
children, if we were left to work our own will without 
a guide or comforter. They must come in that order J 



100 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

and the last is the most important. Peter says (in Acts 
V. 32) : " The Holy Ghost is a witness, whom God hath 
given to them that obey him." 

How sensibly Christ must have realized our needs 
when he said : " I will not leave you orphans ; but if I 
, go away, I will send you another comforter; he will 
abide with you forever. This spake he of the Holy 
Spirit, which was not yet given, for Christ was not yet 
glorified." " By this Spirit we have access to the Father 
through Jesus Christ." The Holy Spirit is to glorify 
God, convince the world, and comfort the church. 
When we exhaust the meaning of these three state- 
ments, no more can be said of him. 



THE GOSPEL. 

" For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ; for it is th( 
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." 
(Rom. 1. 16.) 

" I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, 
which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand ; By which 
also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto 
you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you 
first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for 
our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, 
and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." 
(I. Cor. XV. 1-4). 

There are four words in the New Testament trans- 
lated power — Ischuse, Kratos, Exousia, and Dunamis^ 
from which comes dynamics. Ischuse is applied to physi- 
cal strength. As we speak of a horse, we say he is a 
powerful animal; the lion is strong. Kratos is used with 
reference to government. We have the word democrat, 
democracy — the people govern ; aristocrat, aristocracy — 
the best govern ; autocrat, autocracy — one governs ; theo- 
crat, theocracy — God governs. This is not the word 
used here. We have Exousia — power, privilege, right ; 
instance, ** Blessed are they that do his commandments, 
that they may have (Exousia) right to the tree of life." 
" To them gave he power (Exousia), privilege, the 
right, to become the sons of God." This is not the 
word here translated power. It is Dunamis ; from this 
word we have dynamics- — the mechanical powers, the 
lever, the pulley, the wheel and axle, the inclined plane, 
the wedge and the screw. These powers enable men to 

101 



102 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

accomplish their work with ease and celerity, and per- 
form an amount of labor impossible without their aid. 
This is the word the Holy Spirit selected to convey to 
our minds the kind of power God employs to bring man 
to the position he forfeited by sin. The gospel is the 
power, the dynamics of God to lift the sinner from the 
low estate into which he has fallen, to his favor. It is 
the power, and the only power. 

A man erects a mill ; he can run it with steam power, 
with water power, with horse power, with wind power, 
and perhaps with electricity. Every part of the ma- 
chinery is constructed with reference to the power he 
intends to employ in moving it. Whichever power he 
selects it is the only one adapted to it, and the only one 
which could perform the work designed. Suppose he 
selects steam, then every wheel, cylinder, safety-valve, 
the boiler, everything is adapted to the power to be em- 
ployed. The steam, then, is the power of the move- 
ment of the machinery of the mill, and the only power. 
Not that the man might not have made a mill, the ma- 
chinery of which might have been moved by any of the 
other powers ; but, having made it for a steam motor, it 
becomes the only power. 

In the same manner the gospel is the power of the 
living God to the salvation of the believer, and it is his 
only power. 

One says : " Do you pretend to limit the power of 
God ?" We answer : Only so far as he himself has 
done so. 

God made man good. He fell from his high estate, 
transgressed the law, and became amenable to punish- 
ment. The all-wise and beneficent Creator understood 
thoroughly the being he had made, and determined to 



THE GOSPEL. 103 

put forth power enough to save him. From his infinite 
resources he selected the one his Omnipotent wisdom 
was assured could accomplish the desired result, to wit : 
the salvation of fallen man. When Paul said : " The 
gospel is the power of God unto salvation/^ he meant 
the only power that God intended to exert. God could, 
if he chose, blot out the sun and hang in the heavens a 
great astral lamp to light the world ; but will he do it ? 
He might blot out the moon and stars, and put candles 
in their places ; will he do it ? No, for he has made 
the sun, moon, and stars, and placed them in the heavens, 
and no other agencies will accomplish their work so 
well. 

God made man, and understands his mechanism ; he 
made the gospel for the man, and in it he has placed his 
dunamis to lift him out of the mire and filth of sin into 
which he has plunged himself, and to take him to 
heaven, if the man will only avail himself of the power 
vouchsafed. 

God does not use physical force to compel a sinner 
to become a Christian, or to make him serve him. He 
uses intellectual and moral power. God says : " ' Come, 
let us reason together.' Tell me why you should not 
serve me ; have I not done all in my power to benefit 
you, to save you from your lost estate ? I have given you 
line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and 
there a little. I have set good and evil before you, 
uged you to shun the evil and cleave to the good.'' Thus 
God reasons with his people, thus has he reasoned in all 
ages. When his intellectual power fails to move sin- 
ners, he brings to bear his moral power and appeals to 
their hearts. He says : " I sent you prophets to warn 
you, to plead with you, to recount my mercies and 



104 SERMONS OF DR. W, H. HOPSON. 

blessings to you, and, at last, when you refused to listen 
to them, I sent you my well-beloved Son. He re- 
nounced all the glory he had with me, and I sent him 
from my presence to be ' despised and rejected of men,' 
to be 'a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;' 
and the saddest part was that he might know what hu- 
manity unaided must suffer. You hid, as it were, your 
faces from him ; he was despised and you esteemed him 
not. He was bruised for your iniquities. He was op- 
pressed ; he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; 
he was taken from prison to judgment, and led as a 
lamb to the slaughter ; as a sheep dumb before her shear- 
ers he opened not his mouth. The voice of pleading in 
Gethseraane reached my ear in the heaven of heavens ; 
but for your sakes I turned away from that breaking 
heart ; for without a complete sacrifice redemption could 
not be accoinplished. The burden he bore up Calvary 
was not the weight of the Roman cross ; but the terrible 
weight of sin. The wail from the dying lips of my only 
and beloved Son, ' Why hast thou forsaken me ?' wrung 
my soul with anguish, and I shook the earth and veiled 
my face in my anger. At what a cost has your salva- 
tion been purchased ! Will you still refuse to come ? 
' What more can I do for my vineyard than I have 
done V I call upon my disobedient children to como 
back to me, by the love I have exhibited, by the sacri- 
fice of my Son, by his wondrous love in becoming sin 
for them, that they might be forgiven. If these motives 
do not move you, then I have no more to offer." When 
God has thus reasoned and pleaded with man, if he will 
not listen, there is no more hope for him. If the sinner 
will trample under foot the commandments and pleading 



THE GOSPEL. 105 

of God and his Son, and the blood of a crucified Saviour, 
then he is lost indeed. 

What is this gospel, which is the power of the living 
God to the salvation of the believer? Paul defines it 
thus (I. Cor. XV. 3, 4) : " For I delivered unto you first 
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died 
for our sins according to the Scriptures ; and that he was 
buried and rose again the third day, according to the 
Scriptures.^' The rest of the chapter is taken up with 
the discussion of the third point in the gospel, viz. : the 
resurrection. Men died every day, men were buried 
every day, but they did not rise from among the dead. 
No one denied the death and burial of Jesus but the 
unbelieving Jew and infidel Gentile, who denied that he 
had been raised from the dead, and said : ^' His disciples 
have stolen the body and hid it so as to carry on the de- 
ception they have been practicing upon the world." 
Christ's power to save, his Sonship and claim to the Mes- 
siahship, all turned upon this event. It was the pivotal 
point in his mission. If Christ be not raised then our 
hope is vain and avc are yet in our sins, and why are we 
baptized for, or in the name of, the dead Christ ? The 
resurrection was the broad seal of heaven upon the divin- 
ity of Christ. " For he was declared to be the Son of 
God with power, by the resurrection from among the 
dead." Paul seemed to forget the death and burial of 
Christ, and dwelt upon that which should follow. He 
seemed to anticipate the question which springs to every 
lip, " How are the dead raised up ? With what body do 
they come ?" In answer, Paul almost lifts the veil be- 
tween mortals and the unseen. Methinks the Holy 
Spirit must have laid his hand upon the inspired pen 
and said: "It is enough." It, then, is nothing to us 



106 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

that Christ died or was buried, but his resurrection is 
most vital. Christ's death, burial and resurrection are 
the facts of the gospel. Out of this grows another im- 
portant matter: what is the resurrection to us? All 
Christians believe the three facts set forth by the apostle. 
Is faith all that is necessary to entitle man to a part in 
the resurrection ? Paul says : '* No ; you are baptized 
in the name of the crucified Lord." Is that all ? " No ; 
ye are to awake to righteousness and sin not. Ye are 
to be steadfast, always abounding in the work of the 
Lord." Then it is important to be baptized. In that 
act we show our laith in the resurrection of Christ 
from the dead, baptism being a typical institution. As 
Christ died, so the sinner dies to sin. As Christ 
was buried, so the sinner is buried in the water. As 
Christ was raised from the tomb, so the believing peni- 
tent is raised from the tomb of waters. As Christ was 
raised to enter upon a new and consecrated life, so the 
forgiven man is raised to enter upon his new life in the 
church. As Christ was declared to be the Son of God 
by the resurrection, so the believer will become a son of 
God when he is resurrected from the burial in water, 
and not one moment before. And when he becomes a 
son, he is sealed with the Holy Spirit and becomes an 
heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, if faithful. 

The commands, then, are: believe, repent, and be 
baptized, and the last is as important to our salvation as 
the resurrection was to Christ's Sonship. 

To whom is the gospel to be preached ? Jesus him- 
self answers the question : " Into all the world," and 
" to every creature." " Go, therefore, teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe 



THE GOSPEL. 107 

all things whatsoever I have commanded you.'' This 
settles forever the question that the gospel is for every 
creature, and not for '* the elect few, whom God, from 
all eternity, decreed to be saved." If it was to be 
preached to all, then all could believe and receive it, and 
the exclamation of Peter is readily understood : *^ Of a 
truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons (as 
Calvinism teaches) : but in every nation he that feareth 
him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him ;" 
and to show that all the apostles understood that the 
commission embraced all in its ample provisions, he says : 
"I am an ambassador of that gospel which was preached 
to every creature under heaven.'' This certainly deter- 
mines its universality and adaptability to the world lying 
in sin. 

When was it to be first preached ? Christ said to his 
disciples : " Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be 
endued with power from on high. I will send you the 
Spirit of Truth and he shall bring all things to your re- 
membrance, and tell you what you ought to say." 
Whenever the apostles received this power they were to 
commence the proclamation of the gospel. 

Where was it to be first preached ? Christ's com- 
mand was : " Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye 
be endued with power from on high." Still more definite 
we have (Acts i. 8) : " Ye shall be witnesses unto me, 
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and 
unto the uttermost parts of the earth." If this does not 
show clearly where the apostles were to commence 
preaching we have (Micah. iv. 2): "The law shall go 
forth from Mount Zion, and the word of the Lord from 
Jerusalem." That is surely clear enough as to the point 
where the proclamation of the gospel was to commence. 



108 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

But the Holy Spirit has made it plainer still, so as to 
leave us without a doubt. We have the following state- 
ment (Luke xxiv. 46, 47) : " Thus it is written, and thus 
it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the 
third day : and that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name among all nations, be- 
ginning at Jerusalem." We are here told plainly that 
Jerusalem was to be the starting point for the glad tid- 
ings that were to be told to every creature under heaven. 

By whom was it to be first preached ? When Peter 
made the good confession in the presence of Jesus, he 
said to him : " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will 
build my church ; and the gates of the unseen shall not 
prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever 
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 
Then to Peter was committed the privilege of opening 
the door of the kingdom, first to the Jews on Pentecost, 
and then to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. He 
was to be the first preacher. 

When the day of Pentecost was fully come the dis- 
ciples, to the number of one hundred and twenty, were 
assembled in an upper chamber in Jerusalem. We are 
at the right place. There came a sound from heaven as 
of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house, 
and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of 
fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all 
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with 
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.*' This 
is the right time. /^ But Peter, standing up with the 
eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them.*' This 
is the right preacher. Now, as the gospel was first 



THE GOSPEL. 109 

preached at that first time, at that first place, by that 
first preacher, it is to be preached " in all the world," 
" to every creature/' 

Peter quoted from the prophets in whom the Jews 
believed, to prove to them that the Christ whom they 
had taken with wicked hands and slain, was the long- 
expected Messiah — he who was to deliver Israel ; that 
he had arisen from the dead and ascended up on high, 
and was exalted to the throne of the universe, and that 
as he had promised, the Holy Spirit had been sent down, 
or shed forth before them. " Therefore let all tlie house 
of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same 
Jesus both Lord and Christ.'' Here was the gospel 
in fact. When they heard this they were pierced to the 
heart (or faith was the result of the hearing), and cried 
out to Peter and the rest of the apostles, " Men and 
brethren, what must we do ? We know that we have 
shed innocent blood, put to death the only-begotten of 
the Father : tell us, oh, tell what we must do to obtain 
forgiveness of sins !'' By an inspired Spirit Peter an- 
swers : " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in 
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and 
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." They 
that gladly received his word were baptized: and the 
same day three thousand souls were added to the one 
hundred and twenty. 

That gospel, which proved efficacious in the salva- 
tion of the three thousand, is just as potent to-day as 
when Peter first preached it. It contains the self-power, 
and is the only power God will put forth to save man 
from his lost condition ; he need look for no other. 
Well could Paul say : " I am not ashamed of the gospel 
of Christ." No wonder that he could exclaim : " If any 



110 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have 
received, let him be accursed. Yea, if an angel from 
heaven preach any other gospel let him be accursed.'* 
We should look to ourselves, lest at any time we might 
be tempted to preach another gospel than has been de- 
livered us by the inspired apostle, and thus fall under 
condemnation. 



\ 



BAPTISM UNTO MOSES. 

"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be igno- 
rant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all 
passed through the sea ; and were all baptized unto Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea." (I. Cor. x. 1, 2.) 

When the Israelites entered Egypt it was under the 
most favorable auspices. Joseph was prime minister and 
favorite with Pharaoh. When Joseph told Pharaoh 
that his father and l)rethren had come up out of the land 
of Caanan on account of the famine, Pharaoh asked 
them : " What is your occupation ?" They answered : 
" Thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our 
fathers. Pray let thy servants dwell in the land of 
Goshen," as there was pasture there for the cattle. 
Pharaoh said : *^ The land of Egypt is before thee ; in 
the best of the land make thy father and brethren to 
dwell ; and if thou knowest any men of activity among 
them, then make them rulers over my cattle." And 
Joseph gave his brethren possession of the best of the 
land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. At length 
Joseph died, and a new king arose in the land who knew 
not Joseph, nor his people. He saw with jealous eye 
that the Israelites were multiplying more rapidly than 
the Egyptians, and he began to oppress them cruelly. 
He put task-masters over them to afflict them with bur- 
dens, making them build him treasure-cities, and per- 
haps construct those huge pyramids, the wonder of the 

world. They were compelled to make bricks, and when 

ui 



112 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. H0P80N. 

they asked to be permitted to go and worship God, he 
said they were idle and had too much time to think, and 
should be compelled to furnish their own straw ; and 
they had to go out into the fields and gather stubble. 
They complained bitterly of their condition and rebelled 
against their bondage. 

The bondage of th'e children of Israel is typical of 
the bondage in sin. At first the service seems pleasant ; 
the sinner rolls sin under his tongue as a sweet morsel. 
He revels in it. He delights in the indulgence of his 
passions and appetites; gratifies every propensity to the 
utmost. But when desire fails and pleasure palls, then 
these pleasures become instruments of torture, and the 
sinner begins to feel that the bondage of Satan in sin is 
grievous to be borne, and unless the meshes are woven 
too closely around him, he will struggle to be free. 

A man may become as completely the slave of Satan 
as the Israelites were of Pharaoh. God heard the cry 
of his people and sent them a saviour in the person of 
Moses. He came to them in their bondage and told 
them God had sent him to deliver them; that if they 
would follow him he would lead them into a land flow- 
ing with milk and honey. So God sent Christ to de- 
liver us from the bondage of Satan. All who believed 
Moses and wished for deliverance acknowledged him as 
their leader and promised to follow him. Faith in 
Moses as a leader, and sorrow for their condition, 
brought them to the Red Sea, where they were baptized 
unto or into Moses. Thus faith in Christ and sorrow for 
sin brings us to baptism into Christ. 

The baptism into Moses was an immersion, a birth, a 
burial, typical of our baptism. They were as com- 
pletely covered up and hidden under the cloud and in 



BAPTISM UNTO MOSES. 113 

the sea as we are when immersed in water, a wall of 
solid ice on either side. (See Miriam's Song). "The 
depths were congealed (frozen) in the heart of the sea." 
(Ex. XV. 8.) The dry land was beneath their feet and 
the cloud was over them, and stood behind them, hiding 
them from the Egyptians, so that they could not come 
near the Israelites all nigjit. The cloud arched over 
them from the front to the rear, as they '^ were all under 
the cloud, and passed through the sea " — hidden, covered, 
buried. 

The Egyptians attempted to follow the Israelites 
through the sea, but in the morning watch the Lord 
looked through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and 
troubled the Egyptians. He caused a strong wind to 
blow down the walls (xv. 10), and the Egyptians per- 
ished. Moses had said : " The Egyptians whom ye have 
seen to-day, ye shall see them no more forever." As 
when they were baptized unto Moses their enemies were 
destroyed, and could rise up to trouble them no more, 
so when we are baptized into Christ our sins (our en- 
emies) are washed away, and God says they will rise up 
against us no more, for he will blot them out of his book 
of remembrance. 

When they had crossed the Red Sea and were de- 
livered from their enemies, they were just beginning 
their journey to Caanan. They were now on trial, and 
their fitness was to be tested. They were not prepared 
to go up and possess the promised land. Many trials and 
temptations were before them. After we are baptized 
we, too, are on trial for heaven ; we have many a battle 
to fight, many an enemy to overcome before we gain an 
entrance into the heavenly Caanan. 

Did all who left Egypt reach the promised land ? 



114 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

Alas ! no. The fifteenth day of the second month the 
whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, 
their deliverers. Just think of it ; they were longing 
for " the flesh-pots of Egypt ;'' their animal natures 
were unsubdued. God heard the cry of the people and 
the prayer of Moses, and sent them food, but with it a 
law that they were to gather each day only so much as 
would suffice; but on the day before the Sabbath to 
gather twice the amount, so as to have no labor on that 
day. Some of them gathered too much, and it spoiled; 
and some refused to gather for the Sabbath, and when 
they went out found none. 

How like is this to the church to-day ! Many peo- 
ple believe in Christ, repent of their sins, and are bap- 
tized ; but they do not more than get seated in the 
church before they begin to complain. They are starv- 
ing ; they had so many good things to eat, drink, and 
enjoy before they came into the church. There was no 
cross-bearing out there ; there was no self-denial ; there 
was no one to dictate and say : '^ That is wrong, or this 
is right." "What business have these elders to assume 
authority over us ?" And so they murmur and com- 
plain, even as did the children of Israel. What an 
awful warning their fate should be ! Of the six hun- 
dred thousand fighting men who started for Caanan only 
two were permitted to enter the promised land — Caleb 
and Joshua. Moses, that grand man, who had for forty 
years stood like a strong bulwark between God and his 
often rebellious people, for one act of unbelief was de- 
nied the privilege of entering into " the land flowing 
with milk and honey." Thus will it be in the church, 
which, like the wilderness, is a state of trial of our fit- 
ness for heaven. A sinner is not even on trial, but the 



BAPTISM UNTO MOSES. 115 

Christian is. These things are written for our example, 
upon whom the ends of the world are come, and if every 
sin and disobedience met with a just recompense of re- 
ward, ^' how shall we escape if We neglect so great sal- 
vation ?" 

In the wilderness were all the blessings — the manna, 
the quails, the fountain of waters, the tabernacle, where 
dwelt the Shekinah, and the angel of his presence walked 
before them. In the church are all the blessings of the 
gospel — adoption, sonship, the gift of the Holy Spirit to 
dwell in us as a comforter, the Lord's Supper, and the 
fellowship of saints. Who would not be a Christian and 
strive to be faithful, so as to become an heir to the 
heavenly Caanan, where Christ has led the way? He, 
too, had to die before he could enter into his inheritance 
and lay for us a sure foundation for our hope of eternal 
life. 

As Christ is superior to Moses, so is the gospel su- 
perior to the law. As Christ is superior to Aaron as a 
priest, so is the blood he offers superior to the blood of 
animals slain ; and so is our heavenly kingdom to the 
earthly Caanan. 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 

QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 

Please answer the following : 

1. By what Scriptural authority is a preacher called a pastor ^ 

2. By what Scriptural authority is a preacher, especially a 
young man, called an elder ? 

3. If there is no Scriptural authority for these things, why 
do many of our editors and writers practice them ? 

4. Is not this practice a violation of one of the principles of 
our great plea, which says : " Call Bible things by Bible names.** 

Yours fraternally, J. C. Creel. 

We take pleasure in answering the above queries of 
our good Bro. Creel, though we may not attach the same 
importance to the questions involved that he does. By 
" Scriptural authority " pastor is a title confined to those 
who rule or feed the flock as shepherds thereof. He be- 
comes a pastor by the election of the congregation to the 
position, whether the position be regarded as an office or 
work in the church. The pastor is a bishop or an elder, 
hence no "young man" can fill the office, and no 
preacher, young or old, is or can be a pastor, according 
to the New Testament, who is not an elder. Preachers 
among us, who are not elders officially, can not properly 
be addressed or spoken of as elders; therefore the habit 
of designating them is not authorized by Holy Writ. A 
very young man — a novice — is not an elder in years, and 
can not be one in office, and the title therefore as applied 
to him is a misnomer. Therefore we do violate the 

116 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 117 

principle of " calling Bible things by Bible names " in 
using the words pastor and elder in the above-mentioned 
misapplication of these words. ^'' Why, then, do many 
of our editors and writers practice them ?" says our 
querist. It is difficult to satisfactorily answer this. 
PoimainOj the verb, occurs eleven times in the New Tes- 
tament ; is seven times translated/eec?, and /our times rule. 
Poimeen occurs eighteen times, is rendered shepherd seven- 
teen times, and once pastor. (Eph. iv. 11.) This is its only 
occurrence in the New Testament. The elders are the 
Scriptural shepherds, or pastors of the flock. It is their 
duty to both rule and feed the flock. This they do not 
do. They are not competent to do it. Going back to 
the primitive organization of the churches, we find three 
things true of the original eldership that do not apply 
to our times and practice. The elders were *^apt to 
teach '^ in the full sense of " feeding the flock of God, 
over which the Holy Spirit had made them bishops," or 
overseers, and of " stopping the mouths of gainsayers /' 
they gave their whole time and attention to the work 
and duties of the bishopric; and thirdly, they were sup- 
ported by the church. The elders ministered to the flock 
in spiritual things, and the congregation ministered to 
them in temporal or carnal things. We have no such 
eldership known to us in any of our churches. Where 
is there an eldership that is devoted wholly to the duties 
of the office? Where is there one that is financially or 
pecuniarily supported by the congregation ? Nowhere, 
to our knowledge. The elders among us rule well; 
but necessarily, as a general thing, are not competent 
^* to feed the flock." Therefore, as the next best thing 
to the original practice, the churches call a preacher, in 
their estimation, fully competent to " preach the word '' 



118 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

to sinners, and " to teach them all things commanded '' 
of the Lord to the disciples. The church has a plurality 
of elders, electing the preacher one of them. He de- 
votes his time, talents and energy to preaching, teaching, 
visiting and watching over the flock. He is supported ; 
the others are not. He is one of the pastors, does the 
chief work of the office, and is indeed the only one ot 
them that is shepherd or pastor in the full Scriptural 
sense ; hence the habit of calling him pastor y and prop- 
erly so. Again, he and his associate elders are all pas- 
tors, but the others rule and preside much and feed but 
little ; he rules and feeds and watches much and by way 
of pre-eminence as to competency and work, is regarded 
as and called pastor. The above we think the origin 
and philosophy of the employment of the title among us 
at the present time. But, says Bro. Creel : "Why call 
young men pastors, who are elders neither officially nor 
by virtue of accumulated years ?" We answer : they 
are so called from their work — their chief activity in the 
church. These young men preach the gospel, hence are 
called preachers ; they instruct the congregation in its 
Christian duty, hence are called teachers ; and they pub- 
licly and privately admonish and exhort ; they visit the 
flock and watch over it ; thus doing the work of pastor 
in visiting and feeding, and hence from work and chief 
usefulness among them are called the pastors of the 
church. 

Bro. Creel, let us deal kindly and gently with the 
present elders of our churches. They, in common with 
the other membership, have to labor and toil for a 
worldly support. They have not the time to read and 
study so as to fully qualify themselves as teachers ; es- 
pecially have they not the time to visit the sick and to 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 119 

care for those getting " out of the way '' by personal at- 
tention to them and watch-care over them. They are 
generally good, self-sacrificing men. They do mainly 
the best they can. They are to be praised, loved and 
honored for their work's sake. Our elders will do bet- 
ter by the church when the church does better by 
them. 

In the opinion of the writer we are not fully observ- 
ing apostolic practice, nor adhering to apostolic tradition 
or doctrine. In apostolic times the children of the 
church were taught and trained to be religious in the 
family ; for parental instruction and discipline we have 
largely substituted the modern Sunday-school. For the 
ancient Lord's day worship, when the disciples met *^ to 
break the loaf," to read the Scriptures, to sing, to pray, 
to admonish and to exhort each other, we have substi- 
tuted the custom of meeting on the Lord's day for 
preaching and ^' celebrating the Supper," and of relegat- 
ing to a prayer-meeting the other religious exercises, 
common to the ancient, omitted from the present, Lord's 
day worship. So for a plurality of bishops, elders, 
teachers or pastors, who all gave their time to episcopal 
work and were supported by the church, we have substi- 
tuted a plurality of these officers, but only one of them 
expected " to do the pastoral work," — to give himself 
wholly to the episcopacy, and he alone to be supported. 
This one, chrematizing him from his chief business in 
the church, we commonly call the pastor. The other 
members of the episcopal officiary divide with him the 
duty and responsibility of ruling y he being almost the 
sole shepherd in the sense of " feeding," visiting, and 
personally watching over the flock. Whether it be 
wiser to retain the present order of things in these mat- 



120 SEKMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

ters or to go back to the original apostolic practice, we 
do not now discuss. 

But as to a second thought growing out of Bro. 
CreeFs reminding us of the rule of " speaking of Bible 
things in Bible words." This is a wise rule and ought 
to be adhered to always when we can. We should never 
depart from it, if it can be avoided. We believe in the 
rule, preach it, teach it, try to both observe it ourselves 
and inculcate it as a duty on others. But are there not 
Bible ideas, not found ipsissimis verbis in the Scripture? 
If not, as a people we are greatly addicted to a depart- 
ure from the rule. If there be no flexibility in it, but 
it is to be rigidly, uncompromisingly observed, then few 
of us are innocent of its violation. For instance, fol- 
lowing the well-known and ecclesiastically domiciled 
phrases — Positive Institutions, Ceremonial Law, Moral 
Law, Christian Church, Divinity of Christ, Personality 
of the Holy Spirit, Fatherhood of God, Law of Pardon, 
Scheme of Redemption, Amnesty Proclamation, the 
Great Commission, Plan of Salvation, the Lord's Plan^ 
the New Birth, etc. These phrases are not found in 
Holy Writ. Shall we therefore discard them? Are 
they not clearly Bible ideas ? Therefore we should hold 
on to them. 

Now, in conclusion : Pastor and elder are different 
names for the same official person. They apply to a 
bishop, and not to an evangelist or a deacon, as used in 
Scripture. A young man can not be made a bishop 
Scripturally ; hence he is not in Scriptural parlance 
called either pastor or elder. This is clear, and beyond 
doubt true. But, suggestively y we ask : If a man who 
preaches is correctly called a preacher, may not one who 
does pastoral work be properly called a pastor ? If it 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 121 

be wrong so to call him, does the wrong lie with the 
" elders and voters " who name him from the work he 
does, or does it lie with the churches, who put a Script- 
urally unqualified man to that work ? 

THE FUTURE RECOGNITION. 

" But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning 
them who are asleep that ye sorrow not, even as others, who 
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 
(I. Thess. iv. 13, 14.) 

There are two points to consider in the passage 
quoted. 1. Ignorance in regard to the Christian dead, 
or those who sleep in Jesus. 2. That when Christ 
comes, he will bring all the Christian dead with him. 

The ignorance concerning the dead in Christ, we 
think, was as to whether they would be seen and recog- 
nized at the last day by Christians who had known and 
loved them in this life. To sorrow for the dead, as 
others who had no hope, means no hope of ever seeing 
them or knowing them again. Those who had no hope 
of ever seeing their dead friends, must have been the 
unbelieving pagan world. The statement that the saints 
will all reappear with Ciirist at his coming is in mean- 
ing equivalent to the affirmation that they will be recog- 
nized by the Christians who knew and loved them in 
this world. This, we think, is the pith of the passage. 
If it is not, what comfort is there in the apostle's words 
to Cliristians ? For not to sorrow for the dead without 
hope, is certainly the hope of recognizing them in the 
eternal world. 

If the spirits or souls of the dead are still alive, 
and if they shall accompany the Lord at his coming in 



122 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

heaven, and if the living Christians on earth shall be in- 
stantly changed, and caught up to meet Christ and those 
with him in the air, mutual recognition appears to us to 
be positively implied. That all the redeemed of all the 
ages will be gathered about the person of Christ at his 
coming, is not doubted by any one who believes the 
word of God. Now, let us note the following : 

1. Christ will be recognized by all the redeemed of 
his blood, or they could not be grateful for their re- 
demption by his life surrendered for them on Calvary. 
They will know him as the Christ of the Bible, of whom 
they read in the Scriptures, and in whom, while on 
earth, they believed. Those who knew Christ personally 
on earth, will undoubtedly recognize his person as the 
same man they knew as Jesus, the son of Mary, while 
living in this world. The wicked dead must also recog- 
nize him as the Son of God and the Son of man, or 
their punishment could not be recognized by them as 
just. It is stated, moreover, that every eye — the whole 
human race — shall see him, which is evidently equal to 
the fact that all shall recognize him in his true or real 
personality as Jesus of Nazareth. 

2. These facts show that the consciousness of per- 
sonal identity of each human being will not be lost in 
the future life. Personal identity necessarily implies the 
full power and activity of memory ; and this must neces- 
sarily include the recognition of old acquaintances, as of 
the race of the redeemed. The recognition of the Lord 
Jesus implies the recognition of each other in our whole 
antecedent history, both as sinners and as redeemed men 
and women through the mediation of Christ. No doubt the 
earthly relations will all be remembered, though they will 
be but a remembrance — that is, they will no longer exist. 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 123 

Hence they will cease to exert their old natural in- 
fluences, as they did in this life. The song of the re- 
deemed implies a perfect knowledge of the earthly state : 
" unto him that redeemed us by his blood. '' 

The parable of the rich man and the beggar implies 
all that we have said. The Christian hope, therefore, is 
greater than any one can distinctly comprehend. It is 
the restoration of man to God forever. Perhaps it is 
only the realization of the divine idea in the creation of 
man and the permission of sin. Society is a distinction 
of the future and eternal state of the redeemed in heaven, 
as it is of man's natural state, and of his state in the 
church of God. The very bliss of eternal life consists 
in a great part of the social relations which will bind 
Christ and the church together forever. 

The Christian has hope that he will recognize his 
Christian friends in the future life. They now sleep in 
Jesus, but in the day of the Lord they will reappear — 
will be seen — recognized, and the whole number of the 
purchased possessions — saved sinners — will remain with 
the Lord and one another for evermore. That host 
will remember who they were, and what they were, and 
they will see and know Jesus, who saved them by his 
blood. 

Why, then, should we sorrow for the dead in Christ 
as having no hope of ever seeing or knowing them 
again ? We believe that the Scriptures imply the future 
recognition of earthly acquaintances, and that this teach- 
ing, being implied, not specially expressed, makes it all 
the more striking. 

Finally, the principle of the brotherhood of the hu- 
man race was illustrated in the person and the life of 
Christ. Th6 future blessedness of the redeemed is but 



124 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

the perfect development of the brotherhood which is in 
Christ, and which it would seem requires the recognition 
of earthly acquaintances in heaven to xnake it perfect. 
There is, therefore, included in Christianity in this re- 
spect all that is really desirable. When the shout, 
" unto him that redeemed us," is raised in heaven, we 
shall know who we were, and who they are, and who 
those were, that join in the triumphal song. Better still 
— we shall know Jesus forever as the Saviour of sin- 
ners. 

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

Rom. viii. 16. 

The spirit of adoption realized in the heart is the 
great characteristic distinction of personal salvation 
from sin. Without the witness of the Holy Spirit with 
our own spirit, no one has a Scriptural warrant that he 
is a child of God. 

The apostle says : " For as many as are led by the 
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have 
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye 
have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, 
Abba — Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with 
our spirit that we are the children of God; and if chil- 
dren, then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." 
(Kom. viii. 14-17.) 

This is one of the most important passages of the 
apostolic writings. It is exceedingly plain, direct and 
emphatic in its meaning ; nevertheless, we fear that 
many members of the church are living in almost com- 
plete forgetfulness of its simple statements. The Spirit 
of adoption, or sonship, is the breathing of the Holy 
Spirit in the Christian\s heart, diffusing the conscious 



FUGITIVE PIECES.' 125 

assurance fhat we are the children of God. It is this 
witness, or testimony, of the Holy Spirit with our spirit 
that satisfies the consciousness of the feet of our adop- 
tion. 

We have used the word consciousness with a clear 
and distinct conception of its meaning. Any testimony 
united to that of our spirit as to our relation to God, 
must, of necessity, be an object of our consciousness. If 
any man feels, or has it in his heart, to call God Father, 
as expressive of his love toward him, he must be con- 
scious of the fact ; and if the Spirit of God bears wit- 
ness with our consciousness, thereby making our own 
inward witness the stronger, increasing it to a full or 
entire assurance, it also must be attested by the same 
spiritual powder — the consciousness. This, we think, will 
not be called in question. 

There is an important truth indicated by the dis- 
criminations we have now made. It is this : The Chris- 
tian must not look out of himself for the evidence of his 
adoption. He may, and he ought to, contemplate his 
external actions, and test their moral qualities by the 
rule of action laid down in the Scriptures ; and this ex- 
amination should be made with the severity that a quick- 
ened conscience ever seeks to apply. But the final 
question is : What is the testimony of your own heart or 
moral consciousness f Is your assurance of adoption 
complete or full, so as to impart entire satisfaction or 
conscious rest and peace with God ? This is the ques- 
tion of questions with every person who has an intelli- 
gent or manly interest in regard to his own personal 
standing in the sight of God. To dodge this question, 
or to think lightly of it, or to treat it as nothing by cast- 
ing it out of the mind, is supreme proof of utter self- 



126 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

deception in regard to one's spiritual condition. Let us 
now contemplate the witness of the Spirit with our 
spirit in some chief points, in order that we may be 
qualified to judge ourselves aright. 

1. The spirit of adoption, or witness of the Holy 
Spirit with our spirit, is not the spirit of bondage again 
to fear. This certainly refers to the fear of death ; since 
the object of the Incarnation of the Word was to de- 
liver men from the bondage of the fear of death. To 
this end God became a fellow-sharer with us in flesh and 
blood, that " through death he might destroy him that 
had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver 
them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime 
subject to bondage.^' (Heb. ii. 14, 15.) The purpose of 
the death of Christ is to deliver his followers from the 
fear of death. 

2. Deliverance from the fear of death can be effected 
only by a living faith in the person of the Lord Jesus, 
who is the Son of God and Son of Man — the reconciling 
God-man, or Immanuel — God-with-us. The resurrection 
of Jesus from the dead is the practical destruction of 
death as an enemy, and the conversion of it into a gra- 
cious and merciful method of the deliverance of the soul 
into the glorious liberty of eternal life and blessedness. 
If the Christian fears death, he has not been delivered 
from bondage, and this fact is attested by his own con- 
sciousness. But if he is assured of his reconciliation 
with God in Christ, he can not fear death, for he feels 
that it is the blessed means of entrance into the paradise 
of God — the pathway to his everlasting and blissful 
home in heaven. The conscious assurance of adoption, 
and the fear and dread of death, are inconsistent with 
each other. 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 127 

3. The fear of death is really the fear to meet God 
in judgment. But this is inconsistent with the faith of 
a true follower of God. This fear arises from the lack 
of faith in the atonement, and of our adoption into the 
family of God, and of the witness of the Holy Spirit 
with our spirit that we are his children. If we are jus- 
tified and sanctified by faith, and are living in the faith 
of him who is our peace and righteousness with God, 
then death is destroyed, and there is no more a sting in 
it. The triumph over the fear of death is the victory 
over sin and its punishment through the blood of the 
Lamb. There can be no blessed peace and communion 
with God till the soul quenches all fear in the Lamb that 
that was slain for sinners. He that feareth is not made 
perfect in love, because fear is torment or punishment 
on account of sin. We must be assured of our accept- 
ance with God before we can realize peace with him, 
for peace is the assurance of the heart before God. 

4. The spirit of adoption shuts us up with God in 
a life of self-renunciation. The real Christian is as dis- 
tinctly conscious of this fact — his consecration to God, 
his fellowship with Jesus in the Father's infinite love 
and grace — as he is of his own existence. He knows that 
the flesh has been crucified, with its affections and lusts, 
and that his communion with God is so sweet that he 
delights in it above all other joys. He knows whether 
his own heart is growing in love, and his hands increas- 
ing in good works ; or whether, with all his professions, 
his soul is joyless, and his worship cold and dead. He 
knows whether he has joys which are inexpressible and 
full of the assurances of future glory in the presence of 
God and the Lamb, and whether his faith has proved a 
fountain of divine consolation amid the trials and sor- 



128 SEKMONS OF DR. W. H. HOP80N. 

rows and changes of this life. These things are matters 
of experience with true Christians, expecially with those 
who have proved through the long years the mercy and 
faithfulness of God. It is a blessed thing for a man to 
be able to say with Paul, *' I know in whom I have be- 
lieved, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that 
which I have committed to him against that day.'^ And 
again, " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; 
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." And still stronger, 
Paul declares that he desired to " depart, and be with 
Christ." He speaks of Christ being in the Christian, 
the hope of glory. With what a shout of triumph did 
he hail his deliverance through death : " For I am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is 
at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid 
up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the 
righteous judge, shall give me at that day." Reader, 
have you, in some measure, similar experiences ? 

AND WHEN YE STAND PRAYING. 

"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if you have aught 
against any ; that your Father also may forgive you your tres- 
passes. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who 
is in heaven forgive your trespasses." (Mark xi. 25, 26.) 

The meaning of these words is as plain to the appre- 
hension and appreciation of all responsible classes of 
men and women as they can be made. If a man — any 
man — does not forgive the sins that his neighbor has 
committed against him, he can not obtain the forgive- 
ness of his own sins from God. This closes the ques- 
tion : the Master has said it. 
' Notwithstanding this emphatic statement of Christ, 



FUGITIVE PIECES. l29 

every person of observation and some experience in so- 
ciety knows that this solemn teaching is habitually 
violated by thousands of professed Christians, as well as 
almost universally by men who make no pretensions at 
all to religion. There is perhaps not a single church 
which does not present a number of instances of the 
open rejection of the requirement mentioned in the text 
quoted. In many churches there are chronic cases of 
out-and-out rebellion against God of this kind, which 
perish, so far as any one knows, only by the death of one 
or both of the parties. These old sores or ulcers of 
sin in churches often destroy, to a large extent, the 
power of the gospel in a neighborhood, and render the 
very best and truest preaching useless either for the 
edification of the church or the conversion of sinners. 
There are many instances in which churches, after 
lingering through many years from the vengeful pas- 
sions of some of its members, at last disorganize or 
perish literally. Satan swallowed them up, and their 
names have ceased from the lips of the living. This 
shows how much deeper and truer the teaching of Christ 
is than the great mass even of Christians suspect — so 
deep and so true that the history of churches among men 
oflen reveals human beings blasted and consigned to 
spiritual ruin before death closes the scene of their un- 
conquerable rebellion against God. A church that has 
in it many members who have never learned the lesson 
of forgiveness of others in order to their own forgive- 
ness, can not be the ^' light of the world." It can not 
lead sinners in the way of life, simply because it does 
not enjoy the divine life itself. When a preacher goes 
to a church to hold a meeting, and he is met before his 
efforts begin, and at intervals during their continuance, 



130 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

with thudding voices of old grievances among the bretli- 
ren, he knows that, as a general rule, his labors will be 
in vain, because peace between brethren is as necessary 
to their own power for good over sinners, as peace is to 
the individual Christian in order to his own happiness 
and good influence on the wicked. No man can teach 
what he does not know, or commend to others what he 
has never experienced in his own life. And of all things 
this is truest of the divine life in the soul, and especially 
of that feature of it which is termed the remission of 
sin&. 

But let us look a little more particularly at the 
teaching of Jesus in the text. When any man, saint or 
sinner, comes in earnest prayer to God, the chief burden 
upon his soul is sin. If not, it is on account of the fact 
that he has never recognized his own moral state before 
God, or the single purpose for which God was made 
manifest in the flesh and died upon the cross, since there 
Was no other means by which infinite love and power 
could remain just and save the sinner. The forgiveness 
of every man's sins is given only through the agony, the 
blood, and the death of the Son of Man and the Son of 
God. It is by what Christ was and by what he suffered 
that the weakest and the most powerful minds alike can 
come to perceive and appreciate the real character of sin. 
It is only in full view of the cross and of the character 
of him who was nailed to it, that any man can see 
himself as God sees him, and judge himself as he 
ought to be judged, and as he will finally be judged 
by God. From every other standpoint man must 
see and judge himself according to what he is not, 
and not according to what he is. If it required Christ, 
and him crucified, to procure the forgiveness of every 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 131 

man's sins, notwithstanding the great moral differences 
in the lives of men, who has the shameless face to bring 
before God a heart unrelenting and filled with vengeful 
emotions against his brother or his fellow-man, and 
has the cool impudence to ask God to forgive his own 
sins through the agonies of Christ f Who can have the 
effi'ontery to ask God to do for him what he has in his 
power to do for his neighbor or his brother, and will 
not? And why? Simply because his neighbor, or 
Christian brother, has sinned against him. This is the 
point that reveals the morale of such a spirit. 

But we must look at another point of this subject. 
There must be in the heart of the unforgiving man a 
desire that the offender should be punished. He who 
harbors the resentment of injuries, real or supposed, 
will also secretly rejoice at any calamity that may befall 
his enemy, whether he has the courage to avow it before 
men or not. He will take special delight in seeing him 
humiliated in view of his losses, or his troubles, or his 
failure in any of his schemes. The unforgiving man 
always hides just so much of himself as he thinks will 
do him damage in the esteem of men whose good opinion 
he values highly; and he will reveal himself truly only 
to those of kindred feelings with his own. As long as 
any man refuses to forgive his fellow, he must wish that 
some kind of punishment should befall him, for this is 
a desire which co-exists with the non-forgiveness of in- 
juries. No man can sep irate, much less entirely sup- 
press in his heart, the wish for the punishment of his 
enemy, or of one who has sinned against him, so long as 
he refuses to forgive him in his heart. We affirm this 
as being simply and uniformly true ; f )r in forgiveness 
all desire for the least punishment to happen perishes 



132 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

ill the heart ; and in holding sin against a man it is im- 
possible to separate from that state of mind the desire for 
punishment. This is only one instance of the co-existence 
of feelings, of which consciousness, and the words, and the 
actions of men everywhere afford the most abundant 
proof. So long as God does not forgive us, he holds 
punishment against us, and intends to inflict it. It is 
useless for fallen man to contend that, in refusing to for- 
give his brother, he relinquishes all wish of punishment 
in any form to happen him. If he thinks he does, it is 
only another instance of self-deception, which is so com- 
mon among men ; so that when Christ makes man's for- 
giveness by God to depend on his forgiveness of his 
neighbor, it is plain that one purpose, at least, is to de- 
stroy all and every feeling of revenge, or of lingering 
animosity in the soul. There must be a new heart to- 
wards men, as well as towards God ; and if God requires 
that a man shall love him with all the heart and all the 
strength, he requires also that man shall love his neigh- 
bor as himself, because selfhood contains the unity of 
human nature, and one's neighbor is himself in a sense 
that God alone could reveal. 

It was in view of these truths that Christ said with 
serene and solemn emphasis : " Ye have heard that it 
hatli been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate 
thine enemy ; but I say unto you, love your enemies, 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate 
you, and pray for them which dispitefully use you and 
persecute you : that ye may he the children of your Father 
who is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil 
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the un- 
just. For if ye love them who love you, what reward 
have ye? do not even the publicnns the sune ? 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 133 

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more 
than others ? do not even the publicans so ? Be ye, 
therefore, perfect even as your Father who is in heaven 
is perfect.'' (Matt. v. 43-48.) This is precisely to the 
point ; and there is no way to avoid the emphatic sim- 
plicity and pungency of the letter and the spirit of the 
words. Men may quibble over the words as much as 
their guilty consciences and the indwelling love of sin 
and the spirit of self-justification may urge; but thesi* 
precepts are so plain in their meaning that no one can 
escape their keen edge. They are as plain and pointed 
as Peter's answer to the heart-pierced inquirers of Pen- 
tecost, or that coveteousness is idolatry, or that hatred is 
murder, or that the lustful eye is adultery in the heart 
or imagination, or that the friendship of the world is 
enmity against God, or that whoever is not for Christ is 
against him. 

It may be said that obedience to these precepts is 
impossible on the part of man ; but this is not true, 
since God promises to give man strength to keep them ; 
and for what absolute human infirmity falls short, he has 
lifted up Christ — the mercy seat — or erected the throne 
of grace. Let every one be careful lest he convert that 
throne of grace into a license for self-indulgence in his 
pet sins — an iniquity which many commit, let us hope 
in ignorance. Again, it may be said that these precepts 
are hard to obey. This is true, and it contains evidence 
that they are of God, not of man. They point at the flesh 
— that teeming pest-house of all sins and abominations 
of men. They breathe the spirit of eternal love and 
happy brotherhood. They point directly to the corrupt 
human heart, out of which proceed murders, adulteries, 
lying, thefts, and every evil work. We know how 



134 SERMONS OP DH. W. U. MOPSOK. 

strong a tendency there is in the human heart to evade 
the stern, unbending point and force of the commands 
of God, by making the worse appear the better reason ; 
and this makes us suspicious of any softening interpreta- 
tion of the word of God, and we are the more suspicious 
when that interpretation is used to escape precepts which 
are intended to lead men away from indulging the worst 
passion of the human soul — revenge. 

We distrust the easy-making interpretation of the 
precepts under consideration, because it is absolutely 
contrary to the example of Christ, and of the apostles 
and of the early Christians, all of whom kept the pre- 
cepts we have quoted, and they would not have done it 
if God had not required it. Paul speaks for himself in 
this wise : " Even unto this present hour we both labor, 
and hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, 
and have no certain dwelling-place, and labor with our 
own hands ; being reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, 
we suffer it ; being defamed, we entreat." Here is the 
very letter and spirit of the precept in question obeyed 
by the heroic apostle to the Gentiles ; and Christians in 
this day are under the same obligations that Paul was to 
keep these commandments. In no other way can a per- 
son be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ than by ex- 
hibiting the spirit of his teaching and life, or bringing 
forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit, or be distinguished 
from those whose practice or walk is after the flesh. 

The church needs the exemplification of these holy 
precepts, for they are, in their living spirit, nothing but 
the love of God manifested in Christ for the salvation of 
men. A return to original Christianity leads us at once 
to these precepts, as much as it does to the facts and 
ordinances of the gospel. In truth, we can not illustrate 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 135 

the power of the unadulterated gospel unless we breathe 
its spirit, and we can not breathe its spirit except the 
Holy Spirit dwell in us. Without this divine presence 
iu us the external forms of the gospel can do us no good. 
Whoever aims at his own personal salvation must strug- 
gle into union with Christ in spirit and in truth, for in no 
way can a man attain to communion with the Holy Spirit 
through Christ but by obedience, else he has missed 
completely the whole matter of his personal salvation. 
'' I am the vine," said the Lord, '^ ye are the branches. 
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth 
forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If 
a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch, and is 
withered; and men gather them and cast them into the 
fire, and they are burned. Herein is my Father glori- 
fied, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye be my dis- 
ciples. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in 
my love ; even as I have kept my Father's command- 
ments, and abide in his love. ... If the world 
hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; 
but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen 
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 
If any man love the world the love of the 
Father is not in him." " But I say unto you, love your 
enemies, and do good to them that hate, and pray for 
them who persecute you, that ye may be the children of 
your Father.' ' 

THE NAME CHRISTIAN. 

We ought to look on the bright, not on the dark side 
of things, when we are at all justified in doinar so. We 
ought to ascribe honorable motives to the conduct of 



136 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSOK. 

men when we can honestly do it. We are too prone, 
however, not to do this. For instance, it is assumed^ 
not proven, that Simon Magus had a dishonorable mo- 
tive in asking the apostles, "Give me the power that on 
whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy 
Ghost ;" that Nicodemus sought the society of Jesus 
by night because he was too cowardly to be seen in his 
company by day; that the name Christian, like the 
name Methodist, was originally bestowed upon the dis- 
ciples in derision and as a term of reproach. Why should 
we, as to the name Christian, jump so boldly and confi- 
dently to the conclusion, when the probabilities are 
in favor of a respectable and honorable origin ? Rev. 
John Saul Howson, D. D., in his article on Antioch, in 
Smith's Bible Dictionary, says : " Here should be men- 
tioned that the citizens of Antioch, under the empire, 
were noted for scurrilous wit and the invention of nick- 
names. This, perhaps, was the origin of the name by 
which the disciples of Jesus Christ are designated, and 
which was probably given by Romans to the despised 
sect, and not known by Christians to themselves.^' 

This is the opinion of a very distinguished man. He 
expresses that opinion quite modestly and in conscious 
distrust of its correctness, for he modifies his statement 
by a " perhaps and a probably. " We beg leave, diffi- 
dently but earnestly, to difiPer. Grant the origin of the 
name to be both unknown, and, in this life, unknow- 
able, still, why call it a nickname given in derision to a 
despised sect, by its enemies, when there are three other 
ways in which the name can be accounted for and its be- 
stowment honorably made : 

1. The word kreematizOy here translated called, means 
first to transact business, and then to name one from the 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 137 

business he follows. As it was the chief employment of 
the disciples to preach Christ — to talk of Clirist — to 
serve him, to work for and honor him, as indeed they 
seemed to make this their principal concern in life, why 
not say that they were named from their business. That 
business was to follow and honor Christ; hence they 
could have been called Christians in a highly compli- 
mentary and honorable sense, and by their enemies. 

2. The Antioch Church is regarded as the first estab- 
lished congregation composed of both Jews and Gentiles, 
and hence for the first time the question of a common 
and appropriate name for the disciples would most likely 
arise. What name could they select in this strange, new, 
wonderful union of the hitherto separated Jew and Gen- 
tile, that would honor one no more than the other and 
be alike acceptable to both. In wisdom and propriety 
in this view of the case, the disciples themselves assumed 
the name, the apostles sanctioning it. 

3. The apostles, acting under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit, might have bestowed the name both as in 
itself eminently appropriate and in honor of the Master. 
Kreematizo in the New Testament, we think, implies 
being called or named by divine authority. The word 
occurs nine times in the New Testament, and it certainly 
implies it in seven of these occurrences, and we presume 
to say that no scholar will deny that it may imply it in 
the other two. Hence, in harmony with the meaning of 
the word, and especially from its usus loquendi in the 
Scriptures, we might translate it thus. The disciples 
were first divinely, or of God, called Christians at Anti- 
och. If so, the apostles gave them the name under the 
guidance and positive instruction of the Holy Spirit, 



138 SEEMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

This view seems reasonable and highly probable from 
another consideration. 

An amended translation of Acts ii. 28, which is admis- 
sible, would show that the apostles themselves gave the 
disciples the name. Through them, under the direction 
of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were divinely called 
Christians. The words in the verse rendered taught and 
called are in the same voice, mood and tense. The voice 
is the middle. It is characteristic of this voice that it 
may be translated actively or passively, as the context or 
good sense may determine. In our common vei'sion one 
of these verbs is translated actively, the other passively. 
In our judgment the active signification in this verse 
should characterize each rendering. We do not dog- 
matically affirm this. We dare not in the face of the 
fact that eminent scholars differ as to the propriety of 
an active rendering of kreematizo in this passage. Still 
we have no hesitation in giving it as our opinion (an 
opinion, by the way, not of much value among scholars) 
that it should here be rendered actively and not passively. 
It may be so rendered. We think it ought to be. 

If so, the question of the origin of the name is defi- 
nitely and forever settled. The amended translation 
would make the verse read thus : And it came to pass 
that a whole year they (Barnabas and Saul) assembled 
themselves with the church and taught much people, and 
called the disciples Christians first in Antioch. At any 
rate, we feel confident that the probabilities are in favor 
of the view that the name was honorably, not con- 
temptuously, bestowed. 



FtTGlTlVE PIECES. 139 

THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND PARENTAL INSTRUCTION. 

" Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and 
in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they 
may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them 
your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine 
house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, 
and when thou risest up. And thou shall write them upon the 
door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates." (Deut, xi. 18-20.) 

" And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but 
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
(Eph. vi. 4.) 

The first of these quotatiojis shows how careful Moses 
was to establish religious instruction in every family : 
the second indicates how^ plainly the apostles enjoined 
upon Christian fathers the instruction of their children 
in the truths of the gospel. Whether we turn to the 
law or to the gospel, we find that careful and positive 
provision was made for the religious education of chil- 
dren by their parents. 

Perhaps no religious duty is so generally neglected 
in this day by parents as the instruction of their chil- 
dren in the knowledge of God. '^ Bring them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord " are the most em- 
phatic words that could have been selected to convey the 
idea of the absolute duty of Christian parents to teach 
their children the word of God. 

The Sunday-school originated in the general neglect 
of this duty on the part of parents. From an early 
period religious instruction had been bestowed on chil- 
dren and youth by the bishops, who trained them for 
baptism and church membership. From the fourth to 
the eighteenth century religious instruction was given at 
first on the first day of the week, but afterward in the 



140 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

porclies of churches on week days. Luther established 
several such schools for reading and writing. In the 
fourteenth century Cardinal Borromeo organized Sunday- 
schools, first in the Cathedral of Milan, and subse- 
quently throughout his diocese. In these schools 
reading and writing were taught, and some religious 
instruction given. In the seventeenth century catechet- 
ical instruction was practiced in a few parishes in Eng- 
land by clergymen ; and in 1674 it was practised in a 
church at Roxbury, Mass. 

Robert Raikes, an English philanthropist, was the 
originator of the Sunday-school in the modern sense. 
He was born in Gloucester in 1735, and died in 1811. 
He published a newspaper called the Gloucester Journal, 
His most ardent efforts were excited in favor of the 
multitude of poor children whom he met in the streets, 
abandoned to the practice of every vice. He paid 
women one shilling per Sunday to teach those forsaken 
children. 

This brief, bare abstract of facts must suffice to indi- 
cate the principal stages of the growth of the Sunday- 
school up to the nineteenth century. 

The Sunday-school has now become an institution. 
It is the chief means for training the children of tho 
church in the religion of their parents. It is not to be 
supposed that a measure, devised at first solely to benefit 
the mass of poor, friendless children, would have been 
converted into a popular institution for the specific ben- 
efit of the children of the church, unless there had been 
some peculiar reason for it ; and we venture to say that 
the general neglect of Christian parents to bestow proper 
care on the religious education of their children was that 
reason. If parents had been mindful of their duty to- 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 141 

ward their children, the Sunday-school could never have 
monopolized the religious education of the children of 
the church, thereby affording to parents a temptation or 
occasion to disobey God, by giving the religious training 
of their children into the hands of persons to whom 
God never committed them, thus changing completely 
the moral conditions under which God has provided for 
the training of the children of Christian families. 

The family relations are the basis of society. Home 
is the refuge and the temple of man. It is the chief 
teacher of the human mind and heart, whether for weal 
or for woe. Nothing can be safely substituted in its 
stead. The mother has a wav of access to the souls of 
her children that no one else on earth possesses. Next 
to her stands the father as a teacher; and in some par- 
ticulars, perhaps, his guidance is naturally greater, es- 
pecially with boys. The mystery of love contains in it 
the creative energy of the living God ; hence, as a gen- 
eral rule, the training of children into the divine life 
must be the result of the teaching and example of Chris- 
tian parents. This is the order of the divine, moral 
government of God ; and the conversion of it into a 
different order will be sure to issue, not only in disap- 
pointment, but in a group of serious evils to all parties 
concerned. The work can not be done properly by 
other hands than those of the parents, for the reasons 
already given. Hence Christian parents are responsible 
to God for the characters of their children, and also for 
their final condemnation if they should fall under it, 
provided they shirk their positive duty by committing 
their children's religious education to other hands. In 
one word, parents can no more commit the training of 
their children to the hands of others, than they can put 



142 SEEMONS OF DK. W. H. HOPSON. 

their own salvatioa in the keeping of a priest, as Roman- 
ists do. 

The moment the Sunday-school takes the place of 
parental teaching, serious consequences follow, especially 
when children of all ages are admitted to indiscriminate 
familiarity with the Scriptures. We are not opposed to 
children becoming acquainted with the word of God 
but we do seriously object to children being made famil- 
iar with all sacred subjects before their faculties are ma- 
ture enough to reverence or feel spiritual sympathy with 
them. The result of this unwise course is a light, ir- 
reverent spirit which seems to naturally grow in the 
minds of Sunday-school children and youth. So far as 
we have been able to judge, this kind of spirit is insep- 
arable from the Sunday-school as an institution. It is a 
want of solemn reverence for sacred things, and appears 
to be the natural effect of familiarity with the Scriptures 
at a period of life when the mind lacks the ability to 
appreciate what is disclosed to it in the form of lessons. 
It is not good to pour out indiscriminately to children 
and youth the most awful and fearful trutlis in the uni- 
verse. There are truths which burden with solemn awe 
and silence the matured faculties of manhood and the 
heart of ripe old age, and which should grow into greater 
and greater power over the intelligence, the affections 
and the will throughout the later periods of life, and be 
present with a hallowed glow, calm and serene as the 
banner of autumnal sunset, when the soul enters the 
gate of the eternal world. Can this result from the very 
early familiarity of children with the awful and inex- 
plicable themes of the gospel ? This is a weighty ques- 
tion. It involves far more than most persons imagine, 



FUGITIV^E PIECES. 143 

and it challenges the careful reflection of earnest Chris- 
tian parents. 

The most perilous state of minds is the indifference 
which arises from too early a familiarity with sublime 
and transcendental truths. There is scarcely a person 
wlio escapes partial paralysis of the spiritual faculties 
from this cause. There are at this moment thousands 
of Christians, and many ministers, who are held in 
chains of indifference to spiritual realities, which they 
can not break. Their former profound interest is ex- 
hausted. The most momentous truths have lost their 
power by repeated handling. There can be no question 
that the pulpit has erred in the same direction. There 
is as much love in concealing some truths as in publish- 
ing others. Christ withheld certain truths from the dis- 
ciples until they' were prepared to receive them. When 
the gospel loses its freshness through unwise familiarity 
of the immature mind with some of its truths, it loses 
also its interest for the heart. The case is then well 
nigh hopeless. 

The themes of the Bible are clothed in a most 
solemn style, and animated by a spirit that rises into ab- 
solute awe. The name of God is top sacred and awful 
to be used with the familiarity of the names of common 
things. It is a grievous wrong to treat it as we treat 
the name of a continent, or a mountain, or a river ; to 
have it bandied through the mouths of a congregation 
of children and youth, in whose hearts there has not yet 
dawned so much as the beginning of wisdom — the fear 
of the Lord. 

We may, indeed, make religion a matter of mere 
education, of memory and recitation, or teach it as a fine 
art and accomplishment — as painting, music and dancing. 



144 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

and leave the soul dead in trespasses and sins, and in 
total ignorance of the fact. This is sadder than death, 
gloomier than the grave, with its awful silence and 
darkness. Alas ! how much of this kind of gush teach- 
ing is there in the pulpit and Sunday-school of the 
present day. The spirit of the church and the pulpit 
— the spirit of the religion of this age — is wanting in 
solemnity, in profound earnestness, in a deep soul-troub- 
ling sense of sin, and the awful price of deliverance from it. 



THAT I MAY BE DELIVERED. 

Paul asked the brethren at Rome to strive together 
with him in their prayers to God for him, that he might 
be delivered from them that did not believe in Judea. 
(Rom. XV. 30, 31.) No doubt the deliverance refers to 
persecutions or evils that might be inflicted on his per- 
son, such as stoning, whipping, etc. 

In this day Christians are entirely delivered in this 
country from this class of persecution. The perils now 
to be apprehended at the hands of unbelievers are of a 
diiferent character altogether. The world, or the un- 
believing part of society, is the much larger part of 
almost every community. The indirect influence of the 
gospel has largely benefited the world of this day, in 
comparison to what it was in the beginning of the Chris- 
tian era. What we call civilization is the outgrowth of 
the Christian religion. It is the reflex power of the 
gospel. It consists of a culture that may be called 
moral, but it can not be termed spiritual, in the Script- 
ural sense of that word; for what the merely educated 
man needs is the Spirit of God, and this he can not re- 
ceive without being a Christian in the strict and entire 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 145 

meaning of the word. The world, therefore, is still lost 
in the dreadful meaning of the term — lost as it was in the 
days of Paul. By this we do not mean that the modern 
world is not occupying a far higher plane of moral 
life than the ancient world, but because it is still an un- 
believing world it is lost. Faith is the only possible 
bond of union between God and fallen man; and until 
man is a believer in Christ, in the Scriptural meaning of 
the word, he is in antagonism with God. 

The present unbelieving world does not approach 
Christians with the prison and the stake, but with siu in 
ten thousand burnished forms. Chief among them is 
coveteousness, or the idolatry of mammon. Certainly 
no other form of sin is now so thoroughly enthroned in 
the hearts of men. Other grievous sins distinguish the 
present age, but the love of money is the one into which 
the very spirit of society has shot up in most luxuriant 
growth. By the side of it are the gay pleasures of the 
flesh, which clamor to be recognized as the fruit of the 
Holy Spirit ; and in countless instances the church has 
yielded to the clamor, and admitted these works of the 
flesh as consistent with the life of faith in Christ. One 
competent to judge can not stand about the markets, and 
in full view" of the recognized business principles and 
spirit of trade, without being deeply mortified at the re- 
pudiation of the greater part of all the fundamental 
principles of the gospel. Trickery, deception, lies, and 
what not, are massed as men in battle upon a common 
foe. The sharp trader is but a name to conceal the 
knave. Breaches of trust are common. Stealing has 
been reduced to a science. Money, not votes, rules the 
day. Even marriage is put into the market to the high- 
est bidder. We do not mean to say that all men are 



146 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

villains, or that all women are false, or that all politicians 
are knaves, or that all business men are rascals, or that all 
church members are hypocrites. What we mean to say 
is that this age is exceedingly corrupt, and that its 
Jesuit-like reasoning and practices have, little by little, 
crept into the church, and that Christian integrity has 
suffered much thereby. 

The world of to-day is the great enemy of the gos- 
pel ; the great enemy of pure and undefiled religion. A 
deceitful and false wife, on her departure from the home 
she has polluted, says : " Let me leave this picture, this 
jewel, this letter, dear in other days, not to remind you 
of what I am, but of what I once was in your eyes ;" and 
the foolish husband, instead of saying : '^Go, and I will 
sweep after you,'' consents to retain the little keepsakes, 
not knowing that the fascination of the beautiful de- 
ceiver is in them. And so the world comes to the 
church with this and that gilded sin and says : " Behold 
its beauty, its innocence, its power to relieve and cheer 
the rugged way of life, and let us have an occasional 
hour of surrender to enjoyment." And how often we 
yield to such sophistry; but aftewards we can not close 
the door to other sins, and so we get to sighing for the 
fleshpots of Egypt, and receive, without resistance, our 
old master. 

Little by little sin gains upon the resistance of con- 
science, until at last its voice is hushed, and we accept a 
lie as our passport into the presence of God. Have we 
not reason to fear the influence of the world upon us? 
What other enemy have we got to encounter than the 
flesh, through which Satan deceives so many of the dear 
children of God ? Can any one think that God would 
warn us so often and so faithfully against the power of 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 147 

the world — the ways and the works of fallen men — if 
we were in no danger from them ? No serious Christian 
can believe that God would stoop to such miserable de- 
ception of his rational creatures. 

There is, therefore, profound reason for Christians 
to pray for one another, that God would deliver them 
from the silent, subtle influence of the multitudes of un- 
believing men around them. Be not conformed to the 
spirit of unbelievers, but be transformed by the renew- 
ing of the mind in the love and knowledge of God. 
Such is the pith of the apostles^ exhortation in almost 
every page of their writings; and the experience of 
eighteen hundred years, as well as daily experience now, 
proves the necessity of the exhortation. The friendship 
of the spirit of all unconverted men is enmity against 
God. Here lies our chief peril. Let every one heed 
the danger and seek help in God, not in the deception 
of popular sins. Take heed in time. There is no crown 
if there is no battle, no conquest without self-denial. 
There is danger every hour till death closes the earthly 
scene of the conflict. 



"THY WILL BE DONE." 

These words are a part of the prayer which Jesus 
taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer. 
The petition in full is as follows : " Thy will be done on 
earth as it is in heaven." It signifies or manifests, when 
it is the real expression of the heart of the worshiper, 
the perfect submission of his will to the all-governing 
will of God. The creature is lost in the Creator. 

Doubtless this state of the will of man in regard to 
the right and the sovereignty of God to govern all 



148 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

things on earth, as he does those in heaven, is the most 
difficult of all others to attain, and is at the same time 
the only condition of the purest and fullest happiness of 
man that can be conceived or can exist. It is the per- 
fect restoration of man in all his powers and motives to 
God, including all the relations of the creature to him, 
both in time and eternity. It is the reconciliation of 
man to God in spirit and in fact ; the supremacy ol faith 
and love on the part of the creature, leading the soul in 
the delightfulness of the filial spirit, to accept the whole 
of the earthly life, as ordered and dispensed in the in- 
finite wisdom and love of God. 

That a wonderful change in the natural disposition 
of man must occur before he can truthfully employ this 
petition, as the breathing and revelation of his soul be- 
fore God, must be apparent to every reflecting person. 

Perhaps a large majority of professed Christians 
have never perceived and appreciated the real meaning 
of these words, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
heaven." Perhaps the current, or general character of 
their minds is resistance to the will of God in things 
which are antagonistic to their own desires and purposes, 
so that often the breaking of our hearts is occasioned by 
our resistance to the will of God. The permanent source 
of distress is that God's will is accomplished on earth in 
spite of our positive resistance to it. We mourn over 
blasted hopes. We brood with melancholy bitterness 
over the destruction of our earthly aims, become soured, 
stand apart from the church or its spiritual interests, and 
say, like Jonah : " I do well to be angry even unto 
death !" If, even through our greed of worldly honors 
and fortune, God lays waste our wicked dreams of suc- 
cess, and spreads about us the ruins of our daring 



FUGITIVE PIECES. 149 

worldly ambitions, how often do we make a total sur- 
render of our pretensions to religion, and in sullen, 
silent revenge, forsake the Father, whose right it is to 
rule and reign as absolute sovereign over the lives and 
fortunes of men. 

It is by the failure of our most loved and ardently 
worshiped schemes that God often shows us, or makes 
us reveal to others, that our professions of love and de- 
votion to him were false, however ignorant we were of 
the fact, and we had never really known what faith in 
God means. It is only by learning submission to the 
will of God that we become able to discern the sins 
which we have secretly, perhaps unconsciously, nourished 
and cherished in our hearts — the hidden idols, which, 
like Rebecca, we have brought with us on our journey 
to the heavenly Canaan. 

Christians need much solitary communion with their 
own hearts, much earnest prayer to God, in order to 
know the real state of their spirits before God. We 
live too much in the markets. We surrender far too 
much of our time and efforts to making provision for 
the flesh and its gratifications. We are trying to recon- 
cile the world and the religion of Christ in certain 
points, rather than seeking to crucify the world or 
flesh with its affections and lusts. Civilization — a mere 
culture of the intellect and social sentiments — is fast 
taking the place of the Scriptural demand for the life 
of God in the soul — the life of faith which discerns the 
true and living God, who is invisible. 

The heavenly Father has unbroken peace and living 
joy for those who will surrender their wills to his, and 
who commit the kieeping of their souls to him in well- 
doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 



160 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

Earth has no language for this peace and joy. The 
merging of the human into the divine will is the full 
sum of the most precious happiness that man can enjoy 
on earth. It is imaged to us by the serene and tranquil 
summer noon, or the silent hour of twilight, when all 
nature sleeps sweetly on the bosom of God. When the 
soul rests or finds peace in a surrender of all its activ- 
ities into the will of God ; when we can pray amid tears 
of rapture, *' Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
heaven,'' we receive the highest and most glorious gift 
of happiness we are capable of enjoying on earth. 
" Come unto me,'' says the loving Savior, " all you who 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek 
and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your 
souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 
Precious words ! The yoke is faith in him as the way, 
the truth and the life. " Thy will be done on earth as it 
is in heaven." This translates the soul into the great 
loving hand, out of which none on earth can pluck it. 

This is peace and rest. Reader, canst thou pray 
thus : " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," 
conscious that in the petition you include yourself and 
all that is dear to you in life and in death ? If thou canst, 
it is well with thee — well with thy soul. But if thou 
canst not, if thy will draws back from this entire sur- 
render or submission to the will of God, then know 
that thou hast not taken the yoke, and hast not found 
rest to thy soul. We entreat that thou persist in trying 
to take the yoke that thou mayest find rest. 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 

CONVERSION OF THE EUNUCH. 
Acts viii. 26-39. 

1. God having determined upon the conversion of the 
eunuch, proceeds to the execution of his purpose by the 
employment of an angel ; the angel sent to the preacher, 
not to the unconverted man. 

2. The influence of the Spirit on the preacher, to 
bring him and the sinner face to face. 

3. Do you understand what you read? If he be- 
lieved in Jesus he would, for it alluded to him. The 
preacher began by opening his mind to understand the 
Scriptures; he needed a guide to teach him what the 
words meant — " how shall they hear without a preacher ?" 

4. The competency of the preacher ; the ignorance 
of the eunuch. 

5. Preached to him Jesus — from the Scriptures (read 
portion of chapter iu proof) Now, the agencies em- 
ployed were : An angel ; the Spirit ; the preacher ; the 
truth. 

6. Why did he demand baptism ? He learned it 
from the preaching of Jesus. (Mark i. 1-16.) 

7. The confession. (John ix. 22.) Pharisees agreed. 
Jesus said : " If .ye confess me before men I will con- 
fess you before my Father and the angels in heaven.'' 
(Matt. X. 32; Luke xii 8.) 

151 



152 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

8. God at the Jordan. Angels in heaven. Man on 
earth. (Rom. x. 9.) Shall be saved. 

9. Uncontradicted testimony of the whole church 
that this was the confession. 

10. Not comprehensive enough. If it would do for 
the apostles it should do for us. No experience re- 
quired. 

11. Come to the water. Went down into the water, 
and he baptized him and came up out of the water. 

12. The eunuch went on his way rejoicing, because 
he had the word of the Lord himself that he was a for- 
given and pardoned man. 



CONVERSION OF SAUL OF TARSUS. 
Acts ix. 1-19. 

1. Paul's birth-place, religion, family, education and 
expectations. 

2. His persecuting spirit, threatening, holding the 
clothes of those who stoned Stephen to death. 

3. The object of Christ's appearance to Paul. (Acts 
xxvi. 16.) To be an apostle one must see Jesus after he 
was raised from the dead, hence an apostle could not 
have a successor, a successor of a witness being im- 
possible. 

4. " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?'' The 
Savior would not tell him. 

5. The Lord appeared to Ananias to send him to 
Paul that he might tell him what he must do. This 
brought the preacher and the sinner together. 

6. Not commanded to pray, but Saul did pray, as 
every convicted sinner will, though not commanded to 
do so. 



NOTES 'OF SERMONS. 15 



o 



7. Commanded him to arise and be baptized, calling 
on the name of the Lord. The right time to pray. In 
obedience, because baptized into him and in his name. 

8. As soon as Paul learned his duty he did it. 

9. Paul says : " Justified by faith we have peace with 
God." The faith-alone theory contradicts Paulas ex- 
perience, for he had faith alone three days and nights 
before he had peace. 

10. "And taking food, he was strengthened, and at 
once commenced preaching Christ in the synagogue, 
that this is the Son of God." 



PRAYER, AS IT RELATES TO CHRISTIANS. 

1. Prayer is either mental or vocal, private or pub- 
lic, for ourselves or others. To the Father through the 
Son, for the Holy Spirit ; hence prayer is to procure 
some good or to arrest some evil. 

2. Pray fervently, (James v. 16.) Sincerely, (Col. 
iv. 12.) Constantly and in faith, (James v. 15.) In 
repentance, (Ps. Ixvi.) 

3. Prayer should be short ; in plain, simple lan- 
guage, avoiding repetitions and much speaking. Solemn 
prayer at the dedication of the temple twenty minutes, 
Christ's intercessory (John xvii.) only five minutes — 
both extraordinary occasions. 

4. How is prayer answered ? I know not. I only 
know that God commands and promises to answer 
prayer. Samuel, Job, Hannah, Daniel, David, Anna, the 
prophets, Christ, the apostles, all believed in and prac- 
ticed prayer. 

5. Prayer in the closet, family and church. 

6. Pray for our enemies and friends. If we confess 
and pray we are promised forgiveness. 



154 8EEM0NS OF DR. W. H. HOPSOK. 

EVIDENCES OF CHKISTIANITY. 

1. The four criteria : An event transpires, something 
is done, it is publicly done ; witnesses competent to tes- 
tify say they saw it done, and a commemorative institu- 
tion was inaugurated at the time to keep it in memory. 

2. The enemies of Christ admitted that such a person 
lived and died, and competent witnesses testified to his 
resurrection, and a commemorative institution was estab- 
lished in honor of it. The Lord*s day, Lord^s Supper, 
and Baptism, are all witnesses. 

3. Miracles never denied, but attributed to the 
power of Satan. His unspotted life the greatest miracle 
of all. 

4. His enemies had the body. Their flimsy excuse 
for its disappearance. 

5. The apostles never praise Jesus. Worldly heroes 
are praised, but they mention each other's faults. The 
historians tell us that Peter denied Christ, and Paul ac- 
cuses him of dissembling. 

6. The apostles had nothing to gain and all to lose. 

7. A man will not die with a lie in his mouth when 
he knows there is no escape. 

8. No law against morality. 

9. If Christianity be false, then bad men have given 
us the purest system of morality the world has ever 
seen. 

10. Their death proves their honesty. They could 
not be mistaken or deceived. 

11. No one can, for a moment, believe that twelve 
men would conspire to tell a lie, in the telling of which 
they would receive no benefit, but only persecution and 
death ; hence we affirm that Christianity must be true. 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 165 



PARDON. 

1. Forgiveness or remission. 

2. Done for us, not in us. 

3. Done in heaven, and not on earth. 

4. Feelings no evidence. A man is sent to the pen- 
itentiary for crimes committed . He is sent for ten years. 
In eight years the sheriff of his county meets him on 
the street and says : *' What are you doing here ?" He 
says : *' I am pardoned." The sheriff asks for the evi- 
dence of his pardon. He answers : " I feel so good, I 
am free, out of prison, and feel so happy." The sheriff 
would either regard the man as a lunatic or a rascal, and 
would take him by the collar and march him back to 
prison. But suppose the man says : " I am pardoned," 
and shows the officer a written document, with the name 
of the Governor of the State attached to it, with his of- 
ficial seal : " I have pardoned this man this day," he 
could go on enjoying his freedom and no power could 
remand him. 

5. The law of pardon. (Mark xvi. 16.) Before 
Christ left the earth he prepared a blank pardon for 
every sinner under heaven. Whenever the sinner com- 
plies with the conditions — believes, repents and is bap- 
tized — then he can truly give a reason to every one that 
asks of the hope that is in him. 



CONVERSION. 



1. Faith converts the mind. 2. Repentance, the 
heart. 3. Baptism, the body. 4. Blood of Christ, the 
soul. 5. The Holy Spirit, the spirit. Conversion in all 
« change of state. 



166 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

SIN. 
I. John iii. 4 ; v. 17. 

1. What is sin ? 2. Who is a sinner ? Not an in- 
fant. 3. Faith destroys the love of sin. 4. Repentance, 
the practice. 5. Baptism, the state. 6. Blood of Jesus, 
the guilt. 7. The Holy Spirit, the dominion. 8. Eter- 
nal life, the punishment. 



THE TWO COVENANTS— AN ALLEGORY. 
Gal. iii. 23-29. 

1. The prejudice of the Jews in regard to the Gen- 
tiles. (See Peter at the house of Cornelius ) 

2. The law a schoolmaster. 

3. Till Christ or faith is come. 

4. Children by faith. How? 
6. Baptized unto him. Why? 

6. Put him on. To be a Christian, and all that it 
means. Spirit the seal. 

7. Putting him on we are one in him and are his. 

8. Being his we are Abraham's seed. 

9. Abraham's seed, then heirs. 

10. Links in a complete chain backwards and for- 
wards, to prove our adoption and kinship. 



WHOM HE FOREKNEW. 
Rom. viii. 28-30. 

1. All things work together for good. To whom ? 

2. To those who love God. (This does not include 
the sinner.) 

3. Those who love God are the called. (Not the 
sinner, who does not.) 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 157 

4. The called, according to the purpose of God. 
(That purpose is expressed, not implied.) 

5. That purpose or will is that we believe, repent 
and obey. 

6. If foreknown simply means to know beforehand, 
the passage proves Universalism, as God foreknew 
everybody. 

7. It means characters previously approved. Patri- 
archs and Jews. 

8. These characters were not predestinated to salva- 
tion, but to be like Jesus Christ, conformed to his 
image. 

9. This view consonant with the previous sentiments 
of the chapter. 

10. The whole passage means that persons elected 
through faith and obedience shall be happy here and 
hereafter. 

11. He did not cast off his people whom he fore- 
knew — previously approved, who did not bow the knee 
to Baal, and a remnant, according to the election of 
grace. Rom. ii. 1-5, means the same thing. 

12. Stand by faith, cut off for unbelief. (Rom. 
xix. 24.) 

13. Foreknowledge different from decree. God 
foreknew things that did not come to pass. (See the 
house of Eli, I. Sam. ii. 30; the case of Jonah, iii. 4; 
David at Keilah, I. Sam. xxiii. 10-13 ; promise of 
Canaan, Gen. xv. 13-16; Ex. xii. 25; Num. xiv. 
28-35.) 

14. Planting a nation. (Jer. xviii. 9, 10.) 

15. Shall surely live. (Ezek. xxxiii. 13-15.) 

16. Peter's understanding of the promise. (Acts 
iii. 25.) 



158 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

17. Paul's view. (Heb. vi. 13; Gal. iii. 8; chil- 
dren of Abraham by faith, iii. 7.) 

18. Who are Christ's? (Gal. v. 24; Dan. vil. 14.) 



PETER OR CHRIST. 
Upon this rock will I build my church. (Matt. xvi. 18.) 

1. Was the church built upon Peter, or the confes- 
sion he made ? 

2. Call no man father ; there is but one, our Father 
in heaven. 

3. Council at Antioch. (Acts xv. 1-20.) Though 
Peter was present, James settled the difficulty and made 
the decision in these words : ** My sentence [not Peter's] 
is that we trouble not them, which from among the Gen- 
tiles are turned to God [on the subject of circumcision."] 

4. If Peter had been pope he should have taught 
the apostle Paul what to preach and w^hen to preach ; 
but Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, i. 11, 12 : 
^' But I certify to you that the gospel which was 
preached of me is not after man, for I neither received 
it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation 
of Jesus Christ." 

5. If Peter had been pope, or universal bishop, by 
the authority of Jesus Christ, Paul could not have acted 
so independently. Three years after this time Paul 
says : " I went up to Jerusalem and abode with Peter 
fifteen days." 

6. What right had Paul to call the elders of the 
church at Ephesus and deliver a charge to them ? (Acts 
XX. 17-38; also xxi. 18-20.) 

7. Peter asked Christ, saying: "Behold, we have 
forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have, 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 159 

therefore ?" Now was the time for Christ to say : " You, 
Peter, shall be pope and all the rest shall serve thee.'* 
But did he ? No. " Ye which have followed me, in the 
regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the 
throne of his glory, shall be seated on twelve thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." No supremacy 
here. When the ambitious mother of James and John 
approached Christ and asked if one of her sons might 
not sit on his right hand and the other on the left, he 
settled the question of intended supremacy there at once 
and forever. He said, it was not for him to confer 
any worldly honor. ''All these things are in my Father's 
hands, and shall be given them for whom it is pre- 
pared." The other ten were both surprised and angry 
at the request. Christ could not appoint a universal 
pope. 

8. Peter never claimed supremacy. In his I. 
Epistle, V. 1, he says : " The elders who are among you 
1 exhort, who also am an elder and a witness, and also 
a preacher of the glory that shall be revealed." II. 
Epistle, iii. 2 : "I stir up your pure minds by way of 
remembrance, that ye be mindful of the words which 
were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the 
commandments of us apostles of the Lord and Savior." 

9. Peter alludes to Paul's wisdom in his II. Epistle, 
iii. 15, 16. Paul arraigned Peter. He would not have 
done so had Peter been Christ's vicegerent on earth. 
Peter was married ; Paul w^as not. Paul wrote fourteen 
Epistles ; Peter two. Paul and Barnabas went about 
ordaining elders in every church. 

10. The tradition which affirms that the church in 
Rome was founded by Peter and Paul is certainly false. 
Paul told the Romans in his letter that he was anxious 



160 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

to preach the gospel at Rome (i. 15,) and impart to them 
some spiritual gift, to the end that they might be estab- 
lished. In ver. 23 of chap, xv., he says : ^' I have had 
a great desire these many years to come unto you.'' 
When he was at length taken to Rome as a prisoner, did 
the people go to the Vatican or to Paul's hired house? 
(See history of the case, Acts xxviii. 16-31.) 

11. The gospel of the uncircumcision was committed 
to Paul and the gospel of the circumcision to Peter. 
Then, of course, Peter had no business in Rome as his 
mission was confined to the Jews more especially. (Gal. 
ii.7.) 

12. In II. Cor. xi. 23-33, Paul gives a brief history 
of his sufferings, and says in ver. 28, that besides all the 
troubles he had to bear from without, "that which 
Cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches." If 
Rome had a pope it must have been Paul, as it is un- 
likely that Peter, as pope, would have committed this 
great trust to another after having the high honor con- 
ferred himself. 



THE LORD»S SUPPER. 
Luke xxii. 19, 20 ; I. Cor. xi. 20. 

1. It should be attended to every Lord's day. Give 
up the day if the Supper. Commemorative institution — 
to be observed as often as it can be properly done. 
The 4th of July, once a year ; 22d of February, once a 
year ; 8th of January, once a year. The Lord's Sup- 
per, an ordinance pertaining to a week. As well cele- 
brate the 4th of July once in three years as the Lord's 
Supper once a month, or once in three months. 

2. Testimony of Mosheim, Pliny, Tertullian and Jus- 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 161 

tin Martyr. The whole church celebrated it every first 
day of the week for three centuries ; the Greek Church 
for seven. 

3. The Council at Antioch, in 341, cast out those 
who partook not. The Council at Agatha, in Langue- 
doc, in 506, decided that three times a year would do- 
Christmas, Easter and Whitsunday ; continued six hun- 
dred years. 

4. The Council at Latera, which decreed auricular 
confession and transubstantiation, said that communion 
at Easter was sufficient. 

5. Calvin and Henry said that once a year was a 
contrivance of the devil ; that it ought to be observed 
every week. John Wesley taught for forty-five years 
that it ought to be observed every Lord's day or not at 
all ; and in 1784, in his letter to America, he says : " I 
advise the elders to administer the Lord's Supper every 
Lord's day." 

6. Who is a fit subject ? Let each one be his own 
judge, examine his own heart, and so let him eat. He 
has no business to examine his neighbor's heart or life. 
If half the church are hypocrites, it is none of his busi- 
ness. If they eat and drink unworthily, they eat and 
drink condemnation to themselves. 

7. What is its design ? To bring to our minds and 
hearts the sufferings of the Lord Jesus on our behalf, 
and once a week to stop at the wayside fountain and re- 
fresh our weary souls. 



162 SEJRMONS OF DK. W. H. HOPSON. 

ARMINIANISM AND CALVINISM. 

1. Arminianism originated in Holland in the six- 
teenth century. 

2. James Harmenson (Latinized into Arminus), 
Andervater, in 1560. 

3. After a course of study at the University of Ley- 
den he went to Geneva, and, under Beza, embraced Pre- 
destination in its most rigid form. 

4. Returning to Amsterdam in 1588, he became pastor 
of a Reformed congregation. 

5. Called upon by Martin Lydins, a professor o^ 
Frankfort, to defend the doctrine against objections 
made by the ministers of Delft, his examinations in- 
duced him to reject the doctrine in its extreme form. 

6. In 1604 he was made professor in the University 
of Leyden and gained many converts. The principal 
opponent — his colleague, Frances Gomarus — waged a 
bitter controversy with him till his death, in 1609, aged 
49 years. 

7. The Synod of Dort, November, 1618, and May, 
1619, condemned the five points, and the Arniinian 
preachers were persecuted and exiled until 1625. 

COMMENTS. 

1. Decree makes sin a necessitated state, contradicts 
James. Good and perfect gifts. 

2. Election opposed to. (I. Tim. ii. 4.) 

3. Reprobation opposed to. (Acts xiii. 46.) 

4. Final perseverance to. (Ezek. iii. 30 ; xviii. 24 ; 
Heb. vi. 4-8; iv. 11. Your election sure, TI. Pet. 
i. 10.) 

5. AdokimoSy eight times ; once rejected ; once cast- 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 163 

away. Objections. The rich man in hell was not 
totally depraved ; he desired the salvation of his breth- 
ren. If a man is totally depraved it takes a miracle to 
convert him. This is the reason Arminians believe that 
it takes a special operation of the Spirit to make a man 
a Christian. 

THE FIVE POINTS. 

ARMINIANISM. CALVINISM. 

1. That God decreed to bestow 1. That independent of the 
salvation upon those whom he foreseen merits of the one, or 
foresaw would believe in Jesus the foreseen sin of the other, 
Christ and persevere in faith but solely in fulfillment of his 
and obedience. sovereign purpose or decree he 

2. By Christ's death expiation elected some to salvation, and 
was made for the sins of all predestinated others to destruc- 
men, though none but believers tion. 

will finally reap the benefit. 2. Christ died only for the 

3. As man is by nature born elect, 

in sin and unable to think and 3. God decreed the fall of 

do what is good, it is necessary Adam and the total corruption 

for salvation that he must be of his posterity by sin. All 

born again and renewed by the from birth inherit his fallen 

Holy Spirit. nature, with its hereditary bond 

4. That divine grace, which of sin and guilt, and are in a 
begins, continues and perfects state of utter alienation from 
all that is truly good in man, is God. Free will to Godward is 
not invincible nor necessarily utterly lost. Man, in his natural 
eff"ectual, but may be resisted state, can do nothing but sin, 
by man's perverse will. and that continually. 

5. That the elect may fall fi- 4. The elect are made willing 
nally from a state of grace and by his grace, which is irresist- 
salvation. ible, or necessarily effectual 

to obey the gospel, are regen- 
erated by his Spirit, and live in 
holiness and obedience to his 
will. 

5. They can not fall from 
grace, and will persevere unto 
salvation. - 



164 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

There is really no difference between the two doc- 
trines. In one case God sends the Spirit to operate on 
whom he wills, to save, to operate faith in their hearts; 
in the other, he saves without all that trouble. 



POSITIVE INSTITUTIONS. 
II. Kings V. 10-14. 

1. In a positive law there is no apparent fitness be- 
tween the thing commanded and the end to be obtained. 
In a moral law the fitness is easily seen. 

2. Positive law is a proof of faith in man and power 
in God. Walls of Jericho : brazen serpent. 

3. In disobedience to it Adam fell ; in obedience, 
we rise. 

4. Positive institutions are simple. All great bless- 
ings dependent upon simple means. The greater sin. 

5. Naaman ; his two objections. Pool of Siloam. 

6. In disobedience to it Saul lost his kingdom and 
Uzzah his life. 

7. Cornelius and Saul both blessed in obedience 
to it. 

8. Must obey if conflicting with moral law. Abra- 
ham. "Thou shalt not kill '' was the moral law. Kill 
Isaac was the positive. He obeyed the positive and re- 
ceived the blessing. 

9. He that believes, sprinkles the blood, looks at the 

brazent serpent, is baptized, shall be saved. 



SPIRITUALISM. 

Luke xvi. 29. 

1. Spiritualism is either human, diabolic or divine, 

2. Case of Samuel. (Sam. xxviii. 7-14.) Only 



HOTES OF SERMONS. 166 

case of the kind. The witch astonished at the appear- 
ance of Samuel. 

3. God has legislated against necromancy. (Deut. 
xviii. 11, 12; Isa. viii. 19.) 

4. It is not divine, for it denies God, Christ, sin. 
atonement, judgment and miracles. 

5. The words daimon and daimonion, translated de- 
mons or devils, occurs sixty-five times in the New Testa- 
ment, and in every case they are wicked spirits ; hence 
the Savior cast them out. (Mark i. 34.) 

6. Beelzebub, the prince of devils. 

7. Devils believe and tremble. (James ii. 19.) 

8. " Art thou come to torment us before our time ?'' 

9. We are warned in the New Testament against 
seeking intercourse with the spirits of the dead. (I. 
Cor. X. 20, 21 ; I. Tim. iv. 1.) 

10. Moses and Elias canae back, but were silent. 

11. Every revelation from God made through a son 
of Shem and Abraham. 

12. Any juggler can perform tricks equal to Spirit- 
ualism. 



THINGS BY WHICH WE ARE SAVED. 

When the Bible says that anything saves us it must 
be an element of salvation, else the Bible is not true, 
and nothing is excluded but the opposite of the thing 
by which we are said to be saved. 

1. By grace (Eph. ii. 5), and not by debt. 

2. By faith (I. Cor. i. 21), and not in unbelief. 

3. By repentance (Luke xiii. 3), and not in impeni- 
tence. 

4. By confession (Rom. x. 10), and not in denying. 



166 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

5. By calling on the name of the Lord, and in re- 
fusing to call we can not be saved. (Kom. x. 13.) 

6. By the blood of Christ (Col. i. 14; Heb. ix. 22;) 
by no other blood. 

7. Saved by hope (Rom. v. 10,) and not in despair. 

8. Saved by the gospel (I. Cor. xv. 2 ;) no salvation 
outside. 

9. Saved by baptism (I. Pet. iii. 21 ;) in refusing can 
not be saved. 



PERSONS BY WHICH SAVED. 

1. God saves us by furnishing the means of salva- 
tion. 

2. Christ saves us by his life and blood. 

3. The Holy Spirit saves by its teaching and sanc- 
tifying influence. 

4. The apostles save us by their example and teach- 
ing. Paul says (I. Cor. ii. 1) : *^ Be ye followers of me, 
even as I also am of Christ ; (I. Thess. i. 6) and ye be- 
came followers of us and of the Lord." 

5. We save one another. (I. Tim. iv. 16; James 
V. 20 ; Jude 23.) 

6. A man saves himself by using the means God 
places in his reach — by believing, repenting, obeying 
the gospel, and enduring unto the end. (Matt. x. 22 ; 
xxiv. 13.) 

What we can do we must do ; what we can not do, 
God does for us. Illustrate : A drowning man — the 
skiff saves him, the oars save him, the rope saves him, 
the man saves him, he saves himself. The hook catches 
the fish, the line catches the fish, the bait catches the 
fish, the pole catches the fish, the man catches the fish, 
the fish catches himself. 



Notes of sermons. 167 

DOES BAPTISM COME IN THE PLACE OF CIRCUM- 
CISION ? IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. WHY ? 

1. It was intended for males only. 

2. Faith was not necessary in the subject. 

3. It was done on the eighth day. 

4. To all male slaves born or bought. 

5. No piety in the parent necessary. 

6. It entitled the subject of it to temporal blessings. 

7. It was not done in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

8. It was identified with the law of Moses and 
shared the same fate. (Acts xv. 1 ; John vii. 23 ; Lev. 
xii. 3; Gal. iii. 19-25.) 

9. Christians have a circumcision. (Col. ii. 11, 12.) 

10. Circumcision did not exempt from baptism. 

11. It was not a door into the church. They were 
born into the Jewish church and circumcised the eighth 
day, because they were members. 

12. It obliged the party to keep the whole law of 
Moses. 

13. The apostles, in endeavoring to induce the Jews 
to give up the practice of the rite, never once intimated 
that baptism would be substituted in its place. Had 
they done so it would have settled the question at 
once. 

14. The Council at Jerusalem. (Acts xv. 24-29.) 

15. Paul says that if one is circumcised he is debtor 
to do the whole law. If baptism takes the place of cir- 
cumcision, the substitute would only subserve in the 
place of the principal, and baptism would obligate us to 
do the whole law and make us Jews and not Christians. 



168 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

BAPTISM AND PKAYER. 

Faith and repentance being acknowledged prereq- 
uisites, what is the sinner next commanded to do in 
order to the pardon of sin ? To pray and be prayed for, 
or to be baptized ? 

1. The commission. Prayer not mentioned. 

2. The Acts of the Apostles, (ii. 41,) Three thou- 
sand. (Acts iv. 4,) The number was about five thou- 
sand. (Acts V. 14,) Multitudes both of men and women. 
(Acts viii. 36, 37,) Philip and the eunuch. (Acts ix. 17, 
18,) The conversion of Saul. (Acts x. 47,) Conver- 
sion of Cornelius. (Acts xvi. 14, 15,) Conversion of 
Lydia. (Acts xvi. 30, 33,) Conversion of the jailer. 
All these were commanded to be baptized, and not one 
word was said about praying or being prayed for. The 
only person commanded to pray, and who asked the 
prayers of the apostles, was a baptized penitent be- 
liever, Simon Magus. (Acts viii. 9-24.) Simon was a 
magician. He gave up his calling, " believed also ; and 
when he was baptized " he became a follower of the 
evangelist Philip. The only sin he committed was in 
thinking that he could buy the Holy Ghost with money, 
or the power to confer it upon others. He did not ask 
it for his own benefit ; but " Give me this power, that 
upon whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy 
Ghost." Peter told him that he had no part in this 
matter of conferring the Holy Ghost. The apostles 
alone had this power given to them. They commanded 
him to repent of this his wickedness, and pray God that 
he would forgive him, for the thought of his heart, that 
the gifts of God could be purchased with money. In 
deep penitence and contrition he begged the apostles to 



NOTES OP SERMONS. 169 

pray for him that he might be forgiven. His sin was 
spoken of in the singular number. 

Saul was commanded to call on the name of the Lord 
when he was baptized. He had been a prayerful wor- 
shiper from childhood of the one God, but now he had 
a new object of worship and must acknowledge Christ 
as equally an object of worship with the Father. 

You ask, Is it wrong for a sinner to pray ? I answer, 
no. He will pray. You could not keep him from pray- 
ing if he is a penitent believer. From the depths of his 
heart he will cry out, " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
But that does not prove that he is commanded to pray 
or to be prayed for, for the remission of sins. He is com- 
manded to be baptized for pardon when he has believed 
and repented. 



THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 
Luke xvii. 20. 

1. The Pharisees knew that the kingdom was not 
set up. 

2. Within you. Not meat and drink. 

3. A state into which you enter. 

4. Born of water and the Spirit to enter. (John iii. 5.) 

5. Except your righteousness exceed. (Matt. v. 20.) 

6. Not every one that saith Lord, Lord. (Matt, 
vii. 21.) 

7. Trust in riches to enter the kingdom. (Mark 
X. 24.) 

8. With one eye to enter the kingdom. (Mark 
ix. 47.) 

9. Become as a little child, can not enter. (Mark 
X. 15.) 



170 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

10. God, not man, rules in this kingdom. " In vain 
do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the command- 
ments of men." 



SOMETHING TO DO. 

1. (Ex. XV. 26 ; Deut. vi. 18.) 

2. (John iv. 34.) My meat is to do the will of my 
Father. 

3. (John xiii. 17.) If ye know these things, happy 
are ye. 

4. (John xvii. 4.) The work that thou gavest me 
to do. 

5. Saul, Cornelius, the jailer, Pentecostians. 

6. What good thing shall I do ? (Matt. xix. 16.) 

7. If ye do these things ye shall never fail. (II. 
Pet. i. 10.) 

8. All the Lord speaketh that must I do. (Num. 
xxiii. 26.) 

9. What shall we do ? — People, publicans, soldiers. 
(Luke iii. 10.) 

10. If any man do his will him he heareth. (John 
ix. 31.) 

11. He that doeth the will of God abideth. (I. John 
ii. 17.) 

12. These ought ye to have done. (Luke xi. 42.) 

13. Well done, good and faithful servant. (Matt. 
xxv. 21.) 

14. Done good — to resurrection of life. (John 
v. 19.) 

15. Patient continuance in well-doing. (Rom. ii. 
7 ; Gal. vi. 9.) 

16. Do the commandments. (Rev. xxii. 14.) 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 171 

SATAN. 
Matt. xii. 24 ; John viii. 44. 

1. Has a kingdom. (Matt. xii. 25 ; Rev. xvi. 10.) 

2. Prince of Demons. (Matt. xii. 24.) 

3. Has his angels to do his will. (Matt. xxv. 41.) 

CHARACTER. 

1. Abode not in the truth. (John viii. 44.) 

2. The father of lies. (John viii. 44.) 

3. A murderer. (John viii. 44.) 

NAME. 

1. Satan or adversary, Apollyon. (I. Pet. v. 8.) 

2. Diabolos, accuser, slanderer. 

3. Serpent, crafty, deceitful. (Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2.) 

DIFFERENT VIEWS. 

1. Fallen intellect. (Bible.) 

2. Milton's dragon. (Paradise Lost.) 

3. (See Goethe's Faust.) 

4. Dante's Inferno. 

CONCLUSION. 

1. Entered into Judas. (John xiii. 2.) 

2. Can quote Scripture. (Matt. iv. 6.) 

3. Taketh the word away. (Luke viii. 12.) 

4. He is a bankrupt and deceiver, making promises 
that he is unable to perform. 

5. He can transform himself into an angel of light, 
(II. Cor. xi. 14.) In which masquerade he makes him- 



172 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSOK. 

self and practices very alluring and fascinating to the 
young and old. 



NEW NAME, EVERLASTING NAME. 
Isaiah Ixii. 2. 

1. Names are given, not taken. Parents name chil- 
dren. 

2. Wives take the name of their husbands. 

3. Names not indifferent. God forbids the mention 
of the names of false gods. (Joshua xxiii. 7.) 

4. A good name is better than riches. (Prov. 
xxii. 1.) 

5. Every name has significance. Call a Republican, a 
Democrat; a Whig, a Tory; a Quaker, a, Mormon; a 
Christian, a Campbellite, and they will show you that 
there is something in a name. 

6. God certainly gave his people a name. (Isa. 
Ixii. 2.) 

7. An everlasting name. (Isa. Ivi. 5.) God names 
his people. 

8. And he calleth his own sheep by name. (John 
X. 3.) 

9. Other sheep (Gentiles) have I. One fold, one 
shepherd. (John x. 16.) 

10. Do all in the name. (Col. iii. 17.) 

11. New name called upon the Gentiles. (Acts xv. 
14-17.) 

12. The new name is found in Acts xi. 26. Acts x. 
gives a history of the conversion of the first Gentile ; 
and in Acts xi. 26 the new name was given. His name 
Christos was named upon them, and they were called 
Christianoi. 



NOTES OF SERMONS. 173 

13. Do they not blaspheme that worthy name? 
(James ii. 7.) 

14. If reproached for the name. (I. Pet. iv. 14-16.) 

15. The whole family in heaven and on earth. 
(Eph. iii. 15.) 

CONVERSION OF THE SAMARITANS AND SIMON 

MAGUS. 

Acts viii. 1-24. 

1. The martyrdom of Stephen. Sadness of the dis- 
ciples. Their dispersion. Philip went to Samaria. 

2. The condition of the people. Under the power 
of Simon. First work to frustrate this man's influence. 

3. The people soon decided Simon's performances to 
be tricks. Philip's genuine miracles. Skeptics and 
scoffers. Being attended by the power of God. They 
were ready to admit the authority of God. 

4. Having arrested their attention, he preached to 
them. The kingdom of God. The name of Jesus Christ. 

5. They believed through the word. Not human, 
but divine ; power of the word. 

6. Were baptized. Except born of water and the 
Spirit. He that believeth and is baptized. Both 
necessary. 

7. The most signal triumph achieved was the con- 
version of Simon. Did he believe or not ? If so, he 
was pardoned ; if not, he was not. He must believe 
and be born of the Spirit. 

8. He may have been honest and sinned after his 
baptism, as many do. 

9. I do not believe he was a hypocrite, because when 
told to repent and pray for forgiveness, he at once 
begged the apostles to pray for him. 



IMMERSION THE ONLY BAPTISM. 

NOTES USED IN THE DEBATE WITH MR. CAPLES IN 
HANNIBAL, MO., APRIL 7, 1851. 

1. We have dip, sprinkle, wash (his clothes,) wash 
(his garments.) (Lev. xiv. 5-8.) 

2. Dip, sprinkle, pour. (Lev. xiv. 15, 16; iv. 5,6.) 

3. Sprinkle and dip — purifying; wash (his clothes,) 
and bathe or wash (himself.) (Num. xix. 18, 19.) 

4. Louo was used in the sacred dialect to express 
a partial washing. 

5. Louo and nipto used in contrast in John xiii. 10. 

6. Bapto and baptizo are never in the Bible trans- 
lated sprinkle or pour; dipping always implied. (Dan. 
iv. 33 ; Mark vii. 3-6.) Dip them. 

7. LouOy pluno, nipto, never in the Bible substituted 
one for the other. To this there is no exception. 

1. In a correct definition the term and its definition 
must be convertible. 

2. Words indicating common physical action never 
change their meaning. 

3. No positive ordinance has ever been enacted by 
the figurative meaning of a word. 

4. Baptism is a specific word, like any other word 
in the commission. 

5. Active transitive verbs, the object must be capable 
of receiving the action expressed by the verb : I eat a 
rock, I eat an apple. 

174 



IMMERSION THE ONLY BAPTISM. 175 

6. It is impossible to sprinkle or pour and immerse 
the same thing at the same time. 

To pour is to diffuse or spread out over a surface ; 
to sprinkle is to scatter into drops ; immerse is to bury, 
to cover up, to hide out of sight. 

What you can sprinkle or pour you can not immerse, 
and what you can immerse you can not sprinkle or pour. 
You can sprinkle or pour water, but you can not im- 
merse it. You can immerse a solid, but you can not 
sprinkle or pour it. You can pour fluids, but you can 
not immerse them. 

Is the man or the water to be baptized? If the 
water, you can sprinkle or pour it; if the man, immer- 
sion is the only baptism, as you qan not sprinkle or pour 
him. 

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Baptism 
is an action; it is one action. Sprinkling is an action; 
it is one action. Pouring is an action ; it is one action. 
These three actions do not resemble each other in the 
slightest particular. The quantity of water used in 
either case would not suggest the amount necessary for 
the other actions. If either one is baptism, the other 
two are not, for baptism is one action. Let us make an 
application. (Matt. iii. 6.) And were laptized of him 
in Jordan, confessing their sins. And were sprinkled of 
him in Jordan. Were poured of him in Jordan. Were 
immersed of him in Jordan. The last sentence makes 
the only sense. Let us substitute with for in. Sprinkled 
them with Jordan. Poured them with Jordan. Im- 
mersed them with Jordan. Nonsense. None of these 
would do. 

(Matt. iii. 16.) And Jesus when he was sprinkled 
(scattered into drops) went up straightway out of the 



176 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

water. And Jesus when he was poured (diffused over a 
surface) by John in Jordan, etc. And Jesus when he 
was immersed by John in Jordan came up out of the 
water. Baptism is one action. Which one ? 

(Acts viii. 38.) And they both went down into the 
water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he sprinkled 
him. He poured him, he immersed him. Which would 
common sense teach a man was the one action ? 

(Rom. vi. 3.) Know ye not that so many of us as 
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his 
death ; therefore we are buried with him by sprinkling 
into death, by pouring into death; therefore we are 
buried with him by immersion into death. We are 
planted (by sprinkling or pouring) together in the like- 
ness of his death. Baptism typifies a burial aind a resur- 
rection. Sprinkling or pouring would never suggest 
either, hut immersion does perfectly. 

The Holy Spirit was the author of the Bible, and 
could just as easily have used the words hatharismoSj 
rantizo, ehheo, or katakeo. Which is the exact word the 
advocates of pouring need. (Matt. xxvi. 7.) 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURE. 

Your speaker knows full well that his theme is a 
somewhat hackneyed one, like the discussion of predest- 
ination and freewill in religion, of a high or low rate or 
interest in monetary matters, or of a tariff for protec- 
tion, or for revenue, in political science. He is equally 
aware that he has nothing absolutely original or new tu 
offer to this audience. Yet he indulges the thought that 
he has something to say not unworthy of being said — 
something that may, perchance, interest his hearers and 
impress them with the conviction that their time will 
not have been wholly thrown away in listening to this 
address. 

To foster and promote the education of our children, 
indeed, of the whole human race, is to be in sympathy 
and in co-operation with God. The relation of teacher 
and pupil is older than marriage, older than sin and the 
fall, as old as man's existence upon the earth. God was 
the first educator, Adam the first pupil, then Eve. Adam 
and Eve were the first class. Mind is nature, inherent 
capacity and susceptibility of culture. That mind im- 
pressed with ideas, having acquired knowledge, be- 
comes intellect. Education, then, is the expansion of 
mind into intellect. Mind is the diamond in the rough 
state. Intellect, that diamond with its superadded polish 
and sheen. Adam came into the world with a mind as 
matured in its capacity and strength as was his body in 
its full manhood's structure, symmetry and health. But 

177 



178 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

that mind was under the rayless night of ignorance, and 
needed light — instruction and education. God at once 
began to teach him. Adam had a physical education, 
and was qualified to keep the garden and to dress it. 
He had an intellectual culture, and was so well instructed 
as to be able, without a single failure, to appropriately 
name all the animals as they passed in review before 
him. He had a moral education, and was taught to love 
Eve ; and he had a religious or spiritual education, by 
which he was taught to love God and to worship and 
obey him according to his word. God is our exemplar 
in thus educating man. No wonder, therefore, that in 
'human estimation no theme is so grand or so important 
as this. No wonder that, all along the ages, it has com- 
manded the thought of the noblest minds and enlisted 
the sympathies of the purest hearts that have adorned 
our common humanity. 

Man's origin, capabilities and destiny have always 
been, and still are, matters of absorbing interest and in- 
quiry. What is his origin, and how shall we draw out 
and develop those capabilities so as to secure to him his 
highest and happiest possible destiny ? This be our high 
theme to-night. 

The first man, from every standpoint from which you 
may view him, was a miracle. All things begin in 
miracle and end in nature. All things are supernatural, 
extraordinary and divine in their origin. Nature is but 
the mode of existence and the means of perpetuity. The 
first field of ripened wheat that ever waved its wealth 
of golden heads under the breath of the passing breeze, 
was an extraordinary product. It knew no growth. It 
was ushered into the world in full maturity. Angel 
eyes, curiously scanning the new-born earth, just 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURE. 179 

emerged from the chaos and darkness that for untold 
ages brooded over it, saw this field only in the " full 
ear/' They had never seen it in the grain, the blade or 
the stalk. The first grove of forest trees that ever 
bent their lofty tops in graceful salute and joyous wel- 
come to the balmy breath of spring, or presented their 
leafless, naked branches in grim, stern defiance to the 
rude, desolating winds of nature's wintry time, sprung 
into existence at once, a complete and perfect thing. So 
with the grass that clothed the earth with its soft velvet 
carpet of beautiful green. Angel and human eyes first 
beheld these, in the full ear, the grown-up tree and the 
matured grass. Under nature's teaching they afterwards 
learned acquaintance with the grain, the acorn and the 
little seed. It is thus with light. We are accustomed 
to the bright sheen of the glorious sun, the gentle radi- 
ance of the silvery moon, and the pale light of the 
twinkling stars. We are familiar with these. We know 
whence the luminousness comes. We look for and ex- 
pect it day by day, night by night. In the beginning 
it was not so. And God said : " Let there be light" and 
simultaneously with the divine utterance floods of light 
in rich luxuriance and golden beauty blushed over 
earth and sea and sky. 

The first man was a miracle. He was never an in- 
fant. No mother ever sung him sweet lullabies or rocked 
him to sleep. He had no childhood's playthings, com- 
panions or memories. He knew no growth, no gradual 
physical unfolding and development into full ripened 
manhood. He had no mother tongue. As to material 
origin, he could only claim the earth as his mother, and 
that mother was dumb. He learned only the tongue of 
his Father. His first acquaintance was God. From him 



180 SEEMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

he first learned to speak. In his society alone he spent 
his earliest days, and in high converse with him ex- 
pressed his formal thoughts, and in the halcyon delight 
and fullness of his presence found his earliest joy and 
bliss. Yes, Adam was created, not born. He was 
created a man, not a child. In a word, he made his 
advent into the world without human parentage, inher- 
itance or history. Even yet the poets say : " What a 
miracle to man is man.'^ " God made man in his own 
image,'' says Moses, and I believe him. I can not ac- 
count for his being here, and for his being what he is, 
in his differential endowments and peculiarities, upon 
any other hypothesis. 

What a profound folly it is in Darwin, Tyndal, 
Huxley, Draper and others to represent man as spring- 
ing into being from "a fortuitous concourse of atoms," 
or from the principles of accidental " evolution," or 
from a copartnery of particles of matter by blind "se- 
lection," or upon the dogma of " the survival of the 
fittest" and the ultimate "progression" of brainless 
matter into this intellectual, thinking man. The specu- 
lations of these philosophers, or scientists, if you please, 
may be beautiful, fascinating and satisfactory to cold 
and heartless thinkers, but they degrade humanity and 
dishonor God. Who would like to believe (to use the 
language of another) that he was " originally a sensitive 
plant, detached from its stem by the balmy Zephyrus 
breathing on Flora, metamorphosing its roots into limbs 
and its branches into arms, and then sending it adrift in 
quest of new adventures," or that ^* blind Dame Nature 
tried her youthful hand on the Crustacea of Old Ocean 
and Terra, produced a lobster and graduated it up to 
man ;" or that, after all, in the programme of protoplas- 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURES. 181 

mic selection, survival and evolution, man is but a 
monkey improved. 

Thinking of these most wonderful *^ progressions,'^ I 
am led to exclaim with the English poet. Dr. Young : 

*' If weak thy faith, why choose the harder side ?" 

It is easy to believe. There is no difficulty in be- 
lieving that God made man in his present form, sym- 
metry and grandeur, and that he endowed him with his 
present physical, intellectual and moral constitution, 
capabilities and desires. But if man be but a monkey 
improved, by what principle of selection or evolution, to 
speak not of other differentia^ has man become endowed 
with speech ? I am not discussing science. I am dis- 
coursing of man. Yet I can but pause to look at the 
teachings of science on its bearings upon man, his 
nature, origin and destiny. And I can but ask the 
scientist a question or two : If all things, man and beast, 
bird and fish, matter animate and inanimate, spring 
from one common germ or original, called protoplasm, 
Avhence comes protoplasm ? Whence the idea of a spirit 
existence and a spirit world ? Whence the idea of God 
and the power of human speech ? And if man has been 
on the earth for two hundred and fifty thousand years, 
as you now say, how is it that for more than two hun- 
dred and forty thousand years of that time he is abso- 
lutely without a name or history ? Science says : " I 
do n't know." The Christian believes in God, in spirit 
existence and in immortality, upon the authority of the 
Bible, as the inspired word of God. He has no diffi- 
culty as to the origin of the human speech. The fact 
is we speak that only which we hear. Those born deaf 
are always dumb. They can not hear, neither can they 



182 SERMONS OF BR. W. H. HOPSON. 

speak. Take an infant born of English-speaking 
parents and rear it in the bosom of a family that speaks 
French only, and the child will speak the language of 
the family in which it is reared, and be profoundly 
ignorant of the language of its real parents. I speak 
because I heard my father speak, he because he heard 
his father, and so on to Adam, who spoke because he 
he heard his Father speak. But his Father was God. 
Therefore God is the author of human speech. God 
spoke to man, hence man speaks. Darwinism, in teach- 
ing that thinking, symmetrical man has sprung from 
shapeless, unthinking matter, destroys and annihilates 
one of the world's most cherished and best-established 
maxims — that a stream can not rise above its fountain. 
But enough of this. 

What is man that such interests should gather 
about him ? Why is it that he holds *' dominion over 
the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes 
of the sea, and of all that passeth through the paths of 
the sea"? Why stands he at the very head of the ani- 
mal creation ? Man is an animal — the chief of the 
animals — superior, almost immeasurably so, to other ani- 
mals. In what does that superiority consist ? Is it in 
agility, in gymnastics ? No, not in this. The Cicada, 
a species of locust, can leap two hundred and fifty 
times its length. If a man could leap the same dis- 
tance in proportion to his size, he would be carried a 
quarter of a mile. That annoying little insect, the 
common flea, weighs less than a grain, but can leap to 
such a distance that a man, at the same rate, would pass 
over twelve thousand eight hundred miles, or half 
around the globe, at a single bound. Is it in his swift- 
ness or fleetness of foot ? The dog, the horse, the ante- 



MAN AND MIS PROl>ER OULTtJRE. 183 

lope, and numerous other animals, can outrun him. 
They can endure hunger and thirst, and active vigorous 
exercise longer than he, while the frogs can live for 
months, perhaps for years, without food, light or air. 
The numerous family of flies are superior to him in the 
power of vision. The house-fly greatly exceeds him in 
the number of his eyes. True the fly has but two eyes, 
and these immovable, but being polygonous, like a mul- 
tiplying glass, he has as many eyes as there are facets, 
each to produce a separate image on the retina. Hence 
according to Dr. Hitchcock, the house-fly has fourteen 
thousand eyes, the dragon-fly twenty-five thousand, the 
butterfly thirty-five thousand, and the mordella fifty 
thousand. 

Again, you have all heard of the many-headed hydra. 
It is an actual existing thing, and not altogether a 
fable. I wish to illustrate by it man's inferiority to 
other animals in physical capability, or rather in- 
capability, comparatively, to suffer wounds, dismember- 
ment and pain. Though an enormous glutton when it 
can obtain food, it will live for months without it. Its 
recuperative capacity, when mutilated or injured, far 
surpasses that of man. If not absolutely annihilated, it 
can not be killed. Cut it up into strips lengthwise and 
each will become a full hydra. Stick strips from two or 
three different ones together, and they will live and 
grow and form an abnormal thing, each strip a hydra, 
yet all united, a fact, no doubt, that gave origin to the 
fable of the hydra with seven heads ; while if man loses 
a limb it is lost to him forever. No recuperative process 
can restore it. There is, however, a more interest- 
ing fact still. When this animal is turned, like a gar- 
ment, inside out, as it may be without the slightest 



184 SERMONS OF DE. W. H. HOPSON. 

injury, digestion goes on equally well. Pardon me for 
saying what an infinitely gratifying contrivance this 
would be for the biped gourmands of the Caucasian race, 
and how potent such a felicitous arrangement would be 
in banishing from the earth dyspepsia, that bane of 
social life and drawback upon good living. But to re- 
turn. How incomparably superior to man in ability to 
suffer mutilation and physical injury is this contemptible 
animal. 

Man is not superior to other animals in physical 
strength. The ox, the horse, indeed most animals are 
stronger than he. Nor yet in longevity, for the eagle, 
the goose and the crow outlive him. In other regards 
these three last- mentioned animals surpass him ; the 
eagle has a more piercing, far-reaching vision ; the goose 
can make more noise, and the crow can beat him 
stealing. 

Lastly, in how many other things, of real impor- 
tance, too, as to our worldly interests, are the so-called 
inferior animals vastly superior to man. They are 
born with a covering of hair, scales or feathers, and 
need no artificial clothing. They need no fire for per- 
sonal warmth or for the preparation of their food. They 
neither plow nor sow. They toil not, neither do they 
spin. Shelter and food are readily obtained. The birds 
have, in common, the free air of heaven in which to 
wing their flight, and earth's every tree and shrub, and 
hill and dale, in which to find a resting-place ; the fishes 
travel in schools or singly, amid all the recesses or paths 
of the wide, deep, fathomless ocean, and the beasts have 
the deep, dark jungle, the mountain fastness or the open 
plain of terra firma alike for a pleasure excursion or a 
permanent home. In all this how blessed is the brute 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURE. 185 

creation. No thought of to-morrow disturbs their sleep. 
They have no trouble in rearing and educating their 
offspring, or setting them up in life to take care of and 
provide for themselves. Unlike man, the offspring of 
the other animals attain their majority and independence 
almost as soon as they are born, and are endowed witii 
an instinct that infallibly guides them in the choice of 
food or medicine — an instinct adequate to all that is 
necessary for their comfort and well-being, in health or 
in sickness. 

In conclusion of this part of my subject : In what 
is man superior to other animals ? Certainly not in 
physical activity, or speed, or strength, or longevity, 
or power of vision, or of any sense, or in endurance of 
hunger, thirst, fatigue or personal injury, nor yet in the 
facility with which he can provide for his own wants and 
those of his offspring. No, not in one or all of these. 

The dignity of man, the value of man, his superior- 
ity in the scale of creation over all other animals con- 
sists in this : Man has " God^s image stamped upon 
him, and God's kindling breath within." In the Bible it 
is said : " And God made man in his own image and 
after his own likeness." Again it is said : " He formed 
man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living 
souV^ These, then, are the two characteristics of man 
according to Scripture, and methinks according to hu- 
man reason as well, viz. : Man in the image of God, 
man a living soul or deathless spirit. Man, though 
matter like nature, is also an immortal spirit like God. 
All nature, too, in some sense, is made in the image of 
God. Every work, whether human or divine, receives 
the impress of the mind and reflects the character of 



186 SERMONS OF BR. W. H. HOPSON. 

Him who made it. But man is the image of God in a 
peculiar sense, as the child is the image of its father. 
Of all created things, of all earth's tenantry, man alone is 
the child of God, and man alone calls him Father. Man is 
an animal being, but an intellectual and moral one also — 
a strange, wondrous, sui generis microcosm, an exponent 
of widely-differing factors, a thorough compound of 
seeming incompatibles, an epitome of the universe, hav- 
ing within himself the elements of heaven and earth, 
something in common with God, with the angels and 
with the brutes that perish. While clothed with hu- 
manity, there is still a divinity stirring within him. 
Man's claim of superiority rests .firmly and finally on 
the following predicables : He was made in the image of 
God ; possesses the power of speech ; is capable of for- 
mulating and organizing language, as a vehicle of inter- 
change of thought ; is susceptible of literary culture ; 
has the power of reason in both analysis and synthesis; 
possesses moral consciousness; knows right from wrong; 
has the idea of virtue and vice ; of praise and blame, 
reward and punishment; has the principle and power of 
sorrow and repentance on the one hand, and of forgive- 
ness and reconciliation on the other; worships God, 
through Jesus Christ; believes in the immortality of the 
soul and the resurrection of the body, and lives, labors 
and dies in the hope of everlasting life. 

Of no other animal can any one of these grand and 
glorious constituents be affirmed. What a magnificent 
creature is man — man, with his divine origin, his world- 
wide dominion, and his hope and prospect, if worthy, of 
a heavenly home and an eternity of bliss in the pres- 
ence of his Father, God. 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURE. 187 



WHAT IS EDUCATION? 

I ask not for its meaning as a mere word. I go not 
back to its Latin etymology. I enter not into the con- 
troversy as to the word from which it is derived. I de- 
fine it to be development — culture. That education is 
the best that most fully develops the capabilities of the 
person or thing being educated. We train a vine upon 
a prop that lifts it up into the sunshine and air, for one 
of two purposes— either to produce fruit or to furnish 
shade. If for the last, that is the best educated vine 
whose luxuriant, dense foliage best excludes the sun 
from the spot you wish to shade ; but if fruit be your 
object, then the culture is the most successful when, re- 
gardless of mere foliage, you load it down with abun- 
dant rich, ripe fruit> The blacksmith who has learned 
to weld disjointed fragments, to tire the wheel and to 
round and fit the shoe and to properly drive home the 
nail, is, in his department of human labor, and with re- 
spect to that labor, an educated workman. One boy 
knows how, in the use of blacking, to give to a boot its 
proper shine or polish ; another does not. The one is 
ignorant, the other intelligent in his calling. Industry, 
attention and experience have given the successful one 
knowledge and skill ; practice has made him perfect, 
and in logic and common sense his greater success is at- 
tributable to his superior education. 

Education is complete development. Hence human 
education is the development and culture of man as to 
all his capabilities and powers, to the fullest extent of 
which he is susceptible, in the light of all his surround- 
ings and in all his relations to heaven and earth, to time 



188 SERMONS OF BR. W. H. HOPSOK. 

and eternity, to God and man, to the family, the church 
and the state, to himself and others, as to his perishing 
body and his immortal spirit. 

The apostle Paul tells us tliat we have an outer man 
and an inner man. The inner, not the outer, is the true 
man. The outer man perisheth, but the inner groweth 
stronger day by day. The body is but the servant, the 
spirit is the master. The body is but a temporary man- 
sion, the spirit its proprietor; the body the mere cas- 
ket, the spirit the priceless jewel enshrined within the 
body, the cumbrous machinery ; the spirit, the dunamis, 
the energia, the ruling power within ; the body failing, 
crumbling, perishable clay, animated awhile by the in- 
habiting spirit, but to become an old and worn out case- 
ment, returning to lifeless dust again, when the indwell- 
ing spirit shall have left its house for the inhab- 
itation of the new and better one prepared for it in the 
better land. 

True education is the education of the spirit, and this 
consists in the culture of the head, heart and conscience; 
and again, this development is in reference to God as well 
as man, and to eternity as well as time. Physical educa- 
tion is necessary to the preservation of bodily health, 
and this is essential to the health of the spirit. As the 
bodily man, contemplated from the animal standpoint, 
needs a comfortable house to protect him from the cold 
of winter and the heat of summer, so the spirit needs 
for its fullest development and highest usefulness a suit- 
able home in which to dwell. Without discussing the 
metaphysical question as to the philosophy, at least, of 
the dependence of mind upon matter, I am safe in say- 
ing that the connection between them is such that while 
they may exist dissociated from each other, yet in this 



MAN AND HIS PKOrER CULTURE. 180 

world and in that marriage of spirit and matter that we 
call man, the spirit thinks, feels and acts in the promo- 
tion of its own edification and happiness, and communes 
with and influences other spirits, for evil or for good, 
only through the medium of its own corporal faculties 
and powers. Education, by common consent, is distrib- 
uted into physical, intellectual, moral and religious. I 
favor them all but only as they tend to the last named — 
the education of the imperishable inner man. We need 
educated minds; we need still more educated hearts, and 
most of all, educated consciences. I mean this. I de- 
sire an educational regime that will train men from the 
humblest carpenter to the architect of a city^s palatial 
building, from the teacher of an infant school to the 
president of a great university ; that will fit them for 
the worii in which they are to engage, so that by 
ample knowledge of their duties they may comprehend 
the work before them and how it is to be done; that 
will influence the heart to love their employment and to 
be content with the same ; but, above all, that will cul- 
tivate the conscience of each one, so that he will under- 
take no duty and accept no station for which he is not 
fully competent, so that in accepting the one and in 
undertaking the other, he would imperatively feel the 
obligation of his conscience to perform the duties of his 
sphere in a perfect and faithful manner. 

We can educate a vine, a horse and a man. But that 
is not what I mean. I want educated physicians, teachers, 
lawyers, preachers and mechanics. I would have these 
and all others disciplined and trained respectively with 
reference to their several avocations. But I speak of a 
training higher and farther-reaching than this, not 
simply the education of man as a lawyer or a physician, 



190 SEEMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

a preacher or a teacher, a baker or a barber; but of man, 
as a man, that whatever may be his calling or the posi- 
tion in which that calling may place him, his mind may 
be richly stored with a knowledge of his business, his 
heart inclining him to do it, and his conscience giv- 
ing him neither peace nor quiet until he performs 
it at the right time and in the right way ; in a word, 
faithfully and well. The education for which I contend 
is catholic in its nature, in its application and in its 
adaptedness. It contemplates a thorough outfitting of 
every man for usefulness and success in his own walks 
of life, by enlightening him as to his relation to God 
and his fellow-men, also as to the obligations growing 
out of these relations and by teaching his conscience to 
feel that he can not be an honest man in the sight of 
heaven and earth unless he performs his duty with un- 
deviating fidelity and with scrupulous care. At the risk 
of being prolix, let me pass further and emphasize my 
thought. The man who hammers the iron, the artisan 
who builds the locomotive, the engineer who runs it, the 
brakeman and the fireman, conductor and all, should 
equally act under the power of a conscience that would 
tolerate no neglect of duty whereby the safety of the 
train or the lives of the passengers would be endangered. 
A like conscientiousness should rest upon the common 
laborer that mixes the mortar, the mechanic that lays the 
brick in the wall, and the architect that supervises the 
work ; and so should it be with the chemist that prepares 
medicinal remedies, the druggist that compounds, the 
physician that prescribes, and the nurse that administers 
them. 

A lawyer maybe thoroughly versed in his profession, 
intimately acquainted with Blackstone and Story, Chitty 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURE. 191 

and Greenleaf, etc., and in legal attainments may be un- 
questionably competent as an advocate and pleader to 
defend the right and to oppose the wrong. Such a man 
is fully educated in a mental point of view for the prac- 
tice of his profession. But, alas ! he may know the 
better way, yet the worse pursue. To be fully qualified 
for the duties of his profession he must have an educated 
conscience as well as an educated mind — a conscience 
that would utter its admonitory voice when he should 
be tempted for a liberal fee, positive or contingent, to 
prostitute his great talents to wrong-doing ; a conscience 
that would remind him, in thunder-tones, that in aiding 
some bold, bad man, by legal chicanery, to rob another 
of his estate, he was particeps criminis with the robber, 
and that he (the lawyer) had knowingly and deliberately 
infracted that divine law which says : " Thou shalt not 
steal.'' 

If the physician, with his classic attainments and re- 
fined tastes, would avoid the sin of murder he must not 
only thoroughly understand his profession, in its several 
branches, but in the power of an enlightened conscience 
he must feel the responsibility of his calling, as holding 
life and death in his hands, and that death resulting 
from his incompetency or neglect is nothing less than 
murder. 

The merchant should be intelligent in his calling; 
should understand the law of supply and demand, the 
adaptedness of his purchases to the tastes and wants of 
the community, and the whole rationale of profit and 
loss. It would be well, too, if he could calculate with 
almost certainty the rise' and fall of cotton and sugar, 
and estimate the effects upon the monetary interests of 
the whole country of a failure in a crop of these, and of 



192 SERMONS OP DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

wheat and hemp as well, in his own country or in foreign 
lands. All this is well, but above all give him a con- 
science that will not allow him to take advantage of the 
ignorance of others, that will make him always feel it 
to be a moral duty to give an honest value for what he 
buys, and to dispose of what he sells at a fair and 
reasonable profit. 

Lastly, to go into my own calling, the highest and 
most responsible known among men, the Christian min- 
istry. Let the preacher be thoroughly versed in linguistic 
lore, in history, profane and ecclesiastic, in all science 
and general literature, and especially in the oracles of 
God. But above all, let him be educated with a heart- 
consecration for the work of the ministry, and with a 
conscience tremblingly alive to the responsibdities of his 
mission and to the value of souls. Thus educated, 
there would be fewer blind leaders of the blind, fewer 
dumb dogs that will not bark, men 

" Who steal the livery of heaven to serve the devil in." 

I cheerfully admit the useful bearing of educated 
mind upon national and social prosperity and happiness. 
From this source come the inventions, the discoveries 
and the legislation that civilizes, refines and blesses a 
people. This is not enough. Our great educational 
need is educated hearts and consciences in all the rela- 
tions and activities of life, especially in the department 
of operative industry, as it relates to labor and employ- 
ment, whether professional, mechanical or simple. Does 
not history abundantly and indisputably teach that na- 
tions may be distinguished for their attainments in art, 
in science, in literature and philosophy ; possess the most 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURE. 193 

refined tastes and most polished manners, and may live 
in ihe enjoyment of the world's most advanced civiliza- 
tion, and yet by the neglect of the heart and con- 
science, may be enshrouded in a darkness like that 
which hung over Egypt, and empires which were 
stars of the first magnitude in the political firmament, 
may go out in utter darkness, self-consuming in 
their progress and self-destroyed in the end? Moral 
culture is the study of mors*l science, and more. It ac- 
quaints us with the nature and power of our moral 
constitution, its conscience, affections and pg^ssions, and 
trains us to a proper exercise of them in all the rela- 
tions of life. 

But religious development is the chief culture after 
all. However splendidly educated a man may be in 
other regards, he is but poorly educated if he neg- 
lects the interests of his deathless spirit, and his obliga- 
tions to God. 

The apostle Paul tells us that we have an outer and 
an inner man, and that the outer man perisheth, while 
the inner man grows stronger day by day. The true 
man is the inner. This body is not the one. Destroy 
this body and the one, the e^o, still is. ^' Dust thou 
art, and unto dust thou shalt return,'' was never said of 
the human soul. This body is but a casket, destined to 
pass away ; the priceless jewel enshrined within is the 
deathless spirit. The one is of the earth, earthy ; the 
other of the heavens, heavenly. Shall our educational 
energies be directed to the development of our physical 
and intellectual powers, with sole reference to the inter- 
est of the outer man in its earthly attachments? or shall 
we not rather make it our chief concern to educate the 



194 SERMONS OF DR. W. H. HOPSON. 

inner man in the light of his religious obligations and 
his eternal relations ? 

Parents, give you sons the highest and most thorough 
education that your means will allow and they are will- 
ing to receive. Teach them language — classic language, 
art, science, a trade; educate them thoroughly for some 
honorable business pursuit; teach them the laws of 
supply and demand, the rules of loss and gain, the reg- 
ulations of commerce, the maxims of politics, and the 
laws of business and social etiquette and intercourse; 
the value of money, how to make it, how to keep it 
and how to spend it; make them thorough business 
men, elegant gentlemen, useful citizens and ornaments 
to society. Do all this, and yet you have done nothing 
towards their proper education until you have trained 
them to lay up treasure in heaven. Your educating of 
them has been simply for time — for the benefit and wel- 
fare » of the perishing body. Success in business, ac- 
cumulated worldly wealth, scientific and professional at- 
tainments, are, in themselves, of the earth, earthy — 
broken reeds, and are but poor passports to the better 
land and to the presence of God. 

Educate your daughters in every department of use- 
fulness belonging to woman's sphere, of enterprise and 
activity upon the earth. Educate her not only in solid 
learning, but in all those graces of aesthetics, of man- 
ners and dress that render her beautiful in person, inter- 
esting in conversation, attractive in society, and that 
throw around her those thousand nameless charms that 
make a woman lovely, and attract to her a homage 
from the other sex that stops but little short of the 
worship we pay to God himself. Do this and yet that 
splendidly, humaidy-educated and accomplished daugh- 



MAN AND HIS PROPER CULTURE. 195 

ter is but another fallen Eve — a magnificent and 

queenly ruin — if the heart be ^ot in sympathy with the 
touching story of the Cross, and the spirit be not 
trained to twine its tendrils around the very throne 
of God. 



